iDon't Tell Freddie
by seddie4thewin
Summary: When Carly leaves for Europe, she takes more with her than just luggage. Meanwhile, back in the states, two of her friends end up getting together. This is kind of an AU story where Sam never left Seattle and Carly's dad is kind of a jerk.
1. Chapter 1

**So I don't really know where this idea came from. I just sort of woke up with it in my head and BLAM! Just a warning, it starts off with a Creddie scene in the first chapter, but it's NOT really a Creddie story. Duh!**

 **Oh, and there are references to sexual situations, but no actual sex (lemons) and some bad language sprikled about for dramatic effect.**

Chapter 1

Carly was pacing back an forth in her bedroom. Since moving to Italy to be with her father, Carly's life had certainly turned upside down. But that was nothing compared to how upside down it was about to get.

The brunette had something that she had to tell her father, and she had been up all night trying to figure out how to do just that. Well, she knew how to tell him, just not how to keep him from either killing her on the spot or flying back to Seattle and killing a certain young man. If someone had told her two months ago that she would ever have to be contemplating this conversation with her father, she would have told them they were crazy or high. Or maybe even both.

Her weekly internet chat sessions with Sam, Spencer and Freddie were the only contact with her life back home. Unfortunately, the last of these, five days earlier, had to be cut short because of her feeling sick to her stomach. Due to the time difference between Seattle and Italy, she would always talk to her friends when it was late in the evening on the west coast of the US, but bright and early in the morning for her. Unlike her best friend, who was more of a night person, Carly never had a big problem getting up early and it just made sense to talk to them before she left for school. Actually she hadn't been doing that much sleeping recently.

On the bathroom counter, laid the perpetrator of the crime. Actually the perpetrator was back in Seattle, the object in question was just the messenger of her fate. She was brought out of her thoughts by another round of nausea and made a mad dash to pray to the porcelain god in the corner of the room beside hers. As she wiped her face and tried not to look as bad as she felt, she heard the front door close and her father's voice.

"Carly. Are you up yet, sweetie? Carly? I brought cinnamon rolls. Hurry up, now. I can drop you off for school on my way into the base." Her father called back the hallway.

She sighed and flushed the toilet, dropped the offensive plastic stick into the trash can wiped at her face with a towel. The last thing she wanted was food at the moment, but she had to leave for school and lunch time was many hours away. She had a couple of months left in her senior year and had already been accepted into one of the best colleges in Europe. Thanks to her father's influence, no doubt.

Carly was far less of a celebrity in Italy than she was in Seattle. Sure, a few of the other teens recognized her, but she was more of a curiosity than a celebrity. She certainly wasn't a teacher's pet or favorite of the principal at her new school either. In fact, she went from a straight-A student, on the short list to be valedictorian to getting consistent B's and even a C once in a while.

"Carly!" Colonel Shay called again. "We need to go if you're riding with me."

"Coming, Daddy!" She plastered on a fake smile as she came out the hallway, hoping her breath didn't smell too much of bile after a quick swish of mouthwash.

"Grab a cinnamon roll to go, princess. You'll have to eat in the car. I have a very important meeting at zero eight hundred and we need to leave two minutes ago." Her father loved her and having her with him, but he was strict military through and through with every aspect of his life, including punctuality. More than anything, he wanted to convey to his fellow officers that he and his daughter had the perfect life and the perfect relationship, something he missed out on for many, many years.

"Thanks, Daddy." She replied and kissed his cheek. The important conversation would have to wait until that evening.

 _Flashback to the day Carly left for Italy_.

 _"So, um, does this mean we're a couple, now.?" Freddie asked her from the bed next to her. The two were lying, slightly sweaty, snuggled up under the covers, and despite what they had just done neither wanted to get up first and display to the other their naked body._

 _"Oh, Freddie." Carly replied with the same condescending tone she always used when he would ask her out. The tone that said, 'I pity you for being so naive as to think that we could ever be a couple.' The last thing she wanted was to make this a heavy, angst filled conversation. She suspected that Freddie still had feelings for her best friend deep down inside and on top of that there was no way she was going to be involved in a long-distance relationship._

 _She just wanted to enjoy the afterglow of the first time she and the brown haired boy next to her had just shared. "I don't think either of us are ready for that but maybe some day when I come back we can talk about it." It was the same way he had let her down after the taco truck accident, when they actually tried to date and he broke up with her, citing her affection for him as 'hero worship'. The difference between this time and then, was that Carly could see actually herself dating him back then. Now, she knew it would never be._

 _Truthfully, she didn't know if she would even return to Seattle - or him for that matter. After all, she was about to embark on the adventure of her seventeen-year old life, she didn't want to be tied down to a boyfriend 'back home'. This was simply meant to be a goodbye to someone she shared her youth with and to share her first time with a special boy that she knew she could trust not to take advantage of her heart. The only trouble was: she was taking advantage of his and she knew it - big time._

 _Even though he just fulfilled his biggest teenage fantasy, to lose his innocence to Carly Shay, Freddie began to feel cheap and used. He knew from her tone that he meant no more to her romantically then he had an hour ago and the fact that he had been intimate without even being her boyfriend made him almost sick to his stomach. He wasn't that kind of guy and he knew Carly wasn't that kind of girl, either._

 _The two were brought out of their snuggle session by the sound of her brother's voice and their best friend's excitement as they talked loudly in the living room below. The had just returned, and it sounded like they were all worked up. Maybe Sam was able to help him find that part he was looking for after all. Hopefully, that would mean the motorcycle was soon to be leaving the living room._

 _"C'mon, Freddie. We'd better get dressed before Sam comes up here and finds us, you know . . . "_

 _End of flashback_


	2. Chapter 2

**Caution: some bad language ahead. Oh, and Carly's dad is a bit OOC, but it's all for dramatic effect. Well, that and I can just surmise that more than one normally level-headed middle aged man might go off the deep end when he finds out his teen daughter is pregnant.**

Chapter 2

After school, as usual, Carly returned to her father's home. Her social life had become far less active was an understatement. In fact, it was practically non-existent. She spent the entire day thinking about how she was going to tell her dad this news without him totally losing his mind.

She had given a lot of thought to her options and decided the best thing would be to butter him up, maybe make him a nice dinner and then start a conversation about how Spencer is almost thirty and doesn't have any kids yet. That could lead to a discussion about how she was anxious to start a family of her own. Not exactly the best plan ever, but it was far better than nothing.

Unfortunately the second she walked through the door and saw the dour look on her dad's face, she became painfully aware that she wasn't going to have the option of easing into this subject. Somehow he must have found out. Oh no, that damn test stick. She must have left it exposed and he found it. She knew she should have taken it with her and threw it away at school.

"Carly Marie Shay. Would you mind explaining to me exactly why there was a pregnancy test in the bathroom trash can? And why it's positive?" He tossed the plastic stick onto the coffee table in front of him. The sound it made was amplified by the silence and tension in the room.

She only ever played this card on rare occasion with Spencer but she could go on the defensive and play the part of the sullen teen. "Are you spying on me now?" She said with the typical teen guilt-inducing pout. "I can't believe you would do that."

Her attitude didn't phase the colonel in the least. "Actually, the cleaning lady found it. She came to me to tell me that she saw a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash can when she was cleaning the shower. So I immediately looked for myself and took it out. And it's not spying it's called parenting, something you've had far too little of young lady."

"Oh." Carly suddenly found the pattern of the carpet to be very interesting. She had never been so ashamed of herself.

"Is that all you have to say? Oh. How about something like, 'it's not mine' or 'I haven't been having sex with strange boys that I hardly know because I just moved to this country a month ago'. My God, I never thought I'd hear myself say this Carly, but I'm glad your mother isn't alive to see this day."

Carly remained silent. Her father had never been mad or disappointed in her before and his being so broke her heart. Especially reminding her how disappointed her mother would be in her.

"So you're not denying it's your test then? Well let me make one thing clear, first thing in the morning, we're going to the clinic. Not the base clinic where people know me, but one in town, and we're getting this taken care of."

Carly simply continued to look at the carpet. "Yes, sir."

"And you are not to see, be with or talk to any boy except when you're at school. Are we clear? Honestly, I don't even understand how this happened. You haven't so much as dated anyone since you moved here and you certainly won't be dating anyone now."

"Yes, sir." She agreed with the restriction on dating. "Wait, what did you mean 'get it taken care of'?"

"An abortion, Carly. You're getting an abortion. You're still in high school, you're not having a baby."

"Well, I'm certainly not having an abortion!" She shouted, again on the defensive. "As liberal as I am about a lot of stuff, I'm not killing this baby. How can you even think such a thing. I can't believe what you're asking me to do. It's nothing short of murder to have an abortion. It's my body and my choice and I say no."

"I understand how you feel, Carly and I don't really like that option myself." He sighed. "I suppose adoption would be acceptable, as well. The bottom line is you can't raise a baby at your age. Still, you need an examination so first thing tomorrow you're making an appointment for a checkup, understand."

"Yes, sir." Carly said quietly but her father continued to rant at her.

"You just got accepted to college. You have your entire future to think of. You're still a child yourself for God's sake. What the hell were you thinking? I really thought you knew better than this."

"You think I haven't beat myself up over this? I've not slept the past two nights worrying about this mess. I admit adoption is an option I've considered, but I - I don't know if I could go through with it. And what about the father, he should have a say in it. This baby is as much his as it is mine, I can't just give it away without regard to his feelings."

"Absolutely not! He has NO say whatsoever in this. You said it yourself, this is your body, and therefore, your decision. Not to mention your future on the line. I could give a damn less about what this boy thinks or how he feels. Speaking of which, who is it? Is it that kid who stole your brother's motorcycle and collects the peeny babies? Spencer told me all about him what a little jerk he is."

"Pee-Wee Babies, and no, it's not Griffen. I hardly even kissed him and that was a long time ago. I've barely even spoken to him in almost a year."

"Then who did it?" Colonel Shay demanded.

Carly fell silent. She knew damn well whose baby she was carrying, but she didn't want to tell her father. Somehow, in her mind, not saying it out loud made it less true. It absolved Freddie of guilt for impregnating her, but more importantly it absolved her of being pregnant. She was painfully aware that she couldn't stay silent forever, but right now she just wanted to keep her head in the sand.

"See, this is why your grandfather wanted you to live with him in Yakima. Spencer just left you go, do whatever you want, date any boy that came along and do God only knows what with however many of them. Children need discipline, rules and guidance. As much as I love my son, Spencer's not fit to raise an earthworm, let alone a teenager. I just knew something like this was bound to happen. God, Carly, do you even know whose baby it is?"

"Daddy! I'm not a slut!" Carly was shocked at what he was implying and the very implication made her angry. "Of course I know who the father is. I only had sex one time. One fuckin' time. Literally! Yes, Spencer left me date, but I'm seventeen and about to graduate high school. Everyone dates. Even kids in Catholic school date. If I couldn't date or have some kind of fun, I might as well have went to military school or joined a goddamn convent."

"That's not a bad idea in hindsight. So, then who did it." He demanded, ignoring her language. "Who knocked up my little girl. Just tell me so I can deal with him."


	3. Chapter 3

Previously: "Of course I know who the father is. I only had sex one time. One fuckin' time. Literally! Yes, Spencer left me date, but I'm seventeen and about to graduate high school. Everyone dates. Even kids in Catholic school date. If I couldn't date or have some kind of fun, I might as well have went to military school or joined a goddamn convent."

"That's not a bad idea in hindsight. So, then who did it." He demanded, ignoring her language. "Who knocked up my little girl. Just tell me so I can deal with him."

And now, On with Chapter 3

"What do you mean deal with him? I don't want you or any of your friends doing anything to him. It was as much my idea as his. In fact, I - I sort of started the whole thing. He didn't even really want to at first. If anything he was a willing participant at best, but it certainly wasn't his fault or his suggestion. He didn't force me into anything I didn't want to do."

"Hell's bells, Carly! Listen to yourself. It's not his fault? Maybe he didn't force you but Jesus H. Christ! Don't they teach you about condoms and birth control in school these days? Let alone responsibility? It's as much his fault as anyone's!"

Carly settled down and stopped shouting. "Yes, of course I learned about condoms, and we did use one, I swear. Bu-but it slipped off or - or ripped or something. I don't know, maybe we didn't use it right. It's not like either of us knew what we were doing. We were both virgins, we didn't know what to do. I just know now I'm pregnant."

"Will you please not say that word." The middle aged man propped his hands on his hips. "You still haven't told me who he is and I'm waiting for an answer."

The girl again got loud and aggressive. "It's Freddie's, alright. It's not some random, asshole stranger's, it's Freddie's baby in my belly. The one decent boy I was always too stupid to see even though he was right in front of me."

"The Benson kid? That nerdy boy that lives across the hall from Spencer whose weird mother is always doing the fire drills and safety inspections? But why the hell would you be intimate with a kid like him? He's - he's a geek."

"Because he's my best friend and I didn't want to come to Italy, meet some guy and end up losing my virginity to someone who I wasn't sure about. I sort of always dreamed of my first time being with a sweet guy like Freddie. It was special. It was special for both of us. Or at least it was special for me. Honestly, I think it freaked him out."

"So are you dating him? I thought the way Spencer talked he was seeing your friend Sam. You never talk about anyone romantically, so I don't know what's going on in your life. Hell, you could be a lesbian for all I know, well for all I knew up until this afternoon. I guess that's one thing that's no longer in question."

"No, Freddie and I aren't together and neither are him and Sam. I don't think, anyway. But I want to be with him and I know he'll do the right thing and stand by me. He's a decent guy and he'll take care of me. I know he's got college and all but maybe we can both put off college for a year and we can get on our feet."

"No, he won't do any such thing because he isn't going to find out." Her dad countered, having quickly thought this through.

"What?" Carly questioned. "What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean he's not going to find out. He has to know, it's his child, too."

Stephen Shay was more concerned about his daughter's reputation, and his - by association - than anything else. Having a pregnant teenage daughter certainly wasn't going to jeopardize his career, but it would make him look like a bad parent and cause people to question his judgment. He was going to handle this situation in the best way possible - for him - no matter the effect on the father of his unborn grandchild.

"I think it might be best if we just keep this to ourselves. You only have a few months of school left, you probably won't be showing too bad before graduation and I'm sure you can defer your college plans for a semester. After the baby comes, you'll give it up and move on like this never happened. If you simply lie low and we play our cards right, this whole thing can go away without too much negative impact on your life. You have got to think about your future, Carly."

"But, Daddy, what if Freddie wants to keep it. I can't just give away his child without getting his input. Besides, I think I might actually want to keep it myself. I'm not the first woman to have a baby as soon as she's out of high school and make something of her life. I don't see what the big deal is. College isn't going anywhere."

"Will you get it through your head that Freddie has no say in this! I take it you haven't told him yet, have you?" He silently hoped she'd say no.

"No, but I need to. He needs to know about this so we can figure things out. I'm going to call him tomorrow and tell him. It's too late to call now." Unlike her dad, telling Freddie would be easy, he might get scared but he surely wouldn't blow his top at her.

"I don't think that's best for either of you." He frowned, holding out his hand. "Give me your phone."

"What, why?" Carly knew what he was implying, she was being cut off from her friends back home. "You can't do that."

"Dammit, Carly. Don't argue with me, I know what's best. Now give me the goddamn phone."

Carly reluctantly gave her father her new Pear-phone, the one with all her contacts in it. "Please don't do this, I don't want to be cut off from everyone I know. I have to talk to Freddie. He needs to hear this from me. I was wrong to just walk out of his life and to push him away all those years. I need to tell him how I feel about him, I just hope he hasn't moved on and he still feels the same way. Daddy, I need him and our baby needs a father. I think I might actually love him, I - I know I do."

"No you don't! And the baby needs to be adopted by a married couple who can give it a stable home. Now, you are to have no further contact with this young man or any of your friends from Seattle. Period. No one back home is going to find out about this and fill your head with delusions of grandeur. This is how it has to be. Understand?"

"But what about Spencer?" She cried. "He'll know something is wrong. We talk or text almost every day. He's having a hard enough time adjusting to life all alone. If I suddenly drop out of his life altogether what'll he do? He'll go off the deep end."

"I'll handle your brother. But you will not have any contact with him unless it's under my direct supervision and there will be absolutely no mention of this situation to him. He couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it. You are not going to end up as some girl that everyone talks about and calls a slut. No contact means no calls, no texts, not so much as a damn letter, you hear me?"

"What? I'm not three! You can't treat me like a prisoner and keep me penned up. I'm pregnant, I didn't fail a math test. Grounding me isn't going to solve anything."

"You certainly aren't in any position to bargain, Carly. Now, you go to your room and let me think about what we have to do next. Oh, and I want your computer, too. From now on it will be right over there on my desk so you can use it for schoolwork. Only." He pointed to the desk in the corner of the living room. "Turned off and password protected until I turn it on for you."

"This is so jank. This isn't the fifties, you can't just lock me up in my room so no one finds out I'm pregnant. You have no right to treat me like a prisoner or a child."

"Stop saying that word! I'll treat you like a child since you're no more responsible than one. And irresponsible children are grounded. Now, please get out of my sight for a little while before I say something we'll both regret."

"Like you haven't already." She cried and stomped off. This was certainly not the way she had envisioned this day ending. For the first time, she wished she had never moved to Europe to be with her father.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, so here's this weekend's update a little soon. Will probably get all tied up with Christmas and stuff the next few days and won't get this up by Wednesday unless it gets up now.**

 **For those who have been wanting to see what our favorite couple is up to, read on!**

Chapter 4

Meanwhile, back in the states, two friends and a very lonely brother were confused as to why they suddenly stopped hearing from her.

"Hey Spence, hear from Carly today?" Sam asked as she entered the Shay apartment.

"Not since Saturday when she called and I lost her signal." Spencer answered. Him and Freddie were sitting at the table playing Trivial Quest before Spencer gave up and headed out of the apartment to buy fresh fruit.

"So, Frednub, any luck getting a date for the Prom?" Sam goaded him on her way through to the kitchen.

"What do you care, Puckett?" Freddie snapped cleaning up the board game.

"Eh, just wondering how many extremely desperate chicks there are in our class." She teased and began searching through the freezer for a snack.

"Well, if you must know, I was asked by two different girls. Megan from my sociology class and Skye that's in my homeroom both asked me."

"Whoa, Mr. Stud. Guess you'll be getting lucky, Skye's had a reputation as being easy since freshman year." Sam smirked. "She'll surely give it up for prom, just don't forget to wear your rain coat."

"I'm not going with Skye. I said no right away, mainly because of what all the other guys say about her. Everyone in our grade knows how easy she is and ten years from now I don't want my biggest prom memory to be of going with a skank." Freddie definitely wasn't going to go to his senior prom with a slutty girl.

"Oh, I guess I never pictured you with the Emo type, but whatever. Have fun with Megan." Sam shrugged and took a bite off a popsicle.

"I - I'm not going with her, either. I mean, I don't have a problem with Goths, but Meg's just, well, to put it mildly, waaay beyond strange and how long do you think it's been since she's washed her hair? There's probably stuff in that greasy mop of hers that was there in tenth grade. And for some weird reason she smells like cigar smoke, kind of like your Uncle Dennis."

"You mean my only uncle that you actually get along with?" Sam giggled. "Still I bet Meg would clean up her act for the prom. You might even get some boob, she's got a pretty nice rack if I remember correctly before she got all goth and started wearing baggy clothes and leather jackets and chiz."

"The thing is, I was really hoping to go with someone else, but I kind of heard this girl's not interested in going, so I don't know, maybe I'll just skip it. It's not like I have any kind of social standing at Ridgeway anymore anyway. I'm just glad I'm going to college on the other side of the continent and I can start fresh."

"I don't blame this girl you're talking about. I know I'm sure as cheese not going. But if it makes you feel any better, I'd have went with you. J - just, you know, as friends, I mean if - if I was interested in going. Which I'm not! That social chiz doesn't mean bupkiss to me." Sam gave him a half smile, just enough that he wasn't sure if she was trying to console him or simply chide him.

"Uh, yeah, um thanks, I guess. Bu-but you definitely aren't interested in going, huh?" Freddie wanted to ask Sam for months, but several weeks ago had heard from Wendy that Sam was not interested in going.

"Nah, getting all dressed up and hanging out with a bunch of nubs isn't my idea of a good time. Even if there is free food."

"So if someone was to ask you to go with them, you'd just flat out turn them down?" He verified.

"Yep. Prom's not my thing. But hey, maybe we could just hang out and do something else. Wait I know, I haven't been to Pini's since we were dating. Maybe we could just sort of have our own night. You know, just as friends."

"I like that idea. It's a date, Puckett." Freddie smirked and blushed. "Or - or not a date."

"Yeah, it's an Un-date." Sam nodded, nervously. "Definitely not a date. Just two friends hanging out."

* * *

After their graduation, Sam and Freddie began to spend more time with each other. No doubt, the 'un-date' they went on in lieu of their prom was fun and helped to bring them closer together, even if it wasn't a romantic one. By July, their friends had begun to trickle away. Some left for basic training, some left for summer internships and some left for college early. By the middle of August, they felt like the lone survivors of some type of odd apocalypse that claimed almost everyone their age from Seattle.

Freddie was busy packing up what he was going to take with him to MIT. He had waited until his mother was at work and invited Sam to 'help' him. Not that he expected to get much physical labor out of the blonde, but he was hoping to spend as much time as possible with his only remaining friend, besides Spencer, before he left for college.

"So where's crazy today. I was half expecting to be de-loused and fogged before I was allowed in the apartment." Sam flopped down on the end of his bed, busy reading a message on her phone. "Psh! This figures. My perfect sister got a sweet private dorm room at Yale. I'm going to community college and living with my mom. Stupid Melanie."

Freddie just rolled his eyes, still not believing Sam really had a sister. "Mom's working a double shift. Shouldn't be home until after ten tomorrow morning."

"So you wanted to get me all alone this evening?" Sam feigned shock. "Are you planning on taking advantage of me, kind sir." She said in a southern accent.

"Well, like you said she'd have been spraying you with disinfectants and tick repellent if she was here." Freddie didn't get the joke or the attempt at a flirt.

"Oh." Sam sounded disappointed that this was his only reason.

"Bu-but I figured we could hang out. Maybe we could watch a movie or something while I pack then go grab a pizza or some chicken wings."

"You had me at pizza, Freducchini. So what movie do you want. I started Zombies vs. Sharks last night on in-demand, but I had to stop halfway through because Mom brought home a 'date'." Both of them shivered, knowing what that meant.

"That's not very considerate of her. I mean, what if you had a date or were planning on a private evening and she just came barging in with some strange guy."

"Alright, you've been to my house. In what universe would spending time in my mom's living room constitute a romantic evening. Well, for anyone except her. Unless you consider the smell of spilled beer, cigarette butts and cat piss a turn on."

Freddie nodded in agreement. "Good point."

"Besides, the closest thing to a date I've had in almost a year was our pseudo-prom." Sam confessed, hoping he'd take the hint and ask her out. Like really, really hoping he'd suddenly grow a pair and ask without instruction.

"R-really?" He was shocked to hear this news. "But I thought that Marvin dude asked you to the graduation party Bethany threw. You know, the one I wasn't invited to."

"It really wasn't a date, we just showed up together. You really think I'd data guy named Marvin?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "What a weird name, sounds like he's a Martian or something."

"You dated a guy named Fredward."

"Yeah, but he's a decent dude and kind of cute. Marvin's a stoner with a big nose and all his friends are weird greaser types. I just went to that party to see who was there and get some grub. The people were lame, the food sucked, I left after like, twenty minutes."

The chemistry between the two was getting thick. She just called him cute and Freddie took notice. He figured it was time for him to take a chance.

His pulse increased as he spoke again. "So would you date a guy named Fredward again?"

"Meh, I guess. But I can't imagine there's too many Fredwards out there. I think your mom is the only woman on the planet weird enough to call her kid that." Sam teased with an elbow to his ribs. She knew he was getting bolder and had to do something to let him know she wasn't getting too soft.

Freddie's face fell, she instantly deflated him. She saw the look of disappointment and couldn't help but take pity on him. "But that's not to say I wouldn't go out with _you_ again. I mean, we were pretty good together when you think about it. And our prom non-date kicked serious butt."

"It did, didn't it?" Freddie smiled. "Seriously? But what if I'm still too normal for you? And then there's the thing with my mom. You know she'll crap out a kitten."

"Oh well, she'll get over it. Besides, I'm still kind of abnormal. It's like yin and yang. Why don't you just ask me and we'll see what happens." She suggested.

 **Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

True to his word, Colonel Shay made Carly break all contact with everyone back home. He allowed her to talk to Spencer on rare occasion, but the video chats were replaced by phone calls after a couple of months when Carly's belly began to become more noticeable and he was afraid Spencer would become suspicious of her wearing baggy clothes all the time. She almost left it slip one time but her father, always present during her calls, simply grabbed the phone and cut the call off before Spencer caught on. Spencer was the not the wiser, he thought the call just dropped and left it at that.

Fortunately, Carly was able to keep her pregnancy hidden from all of her school mates. One tactless girl questioned whether she was pregnant a few weeks before graduation when she saw Carly changing after gym class and noticed her belly and the way her bra fit too tightly. The brunette simply passed it off as needing to exercise more and cut back on the carb heavy Italian food. By the time graduation day rolled around she was beginning to show and her normal clothes were getting a bit too tight. Thank goodness for a loose fitting graduation gown or her secret would have surely been blown.

The day after graduation, Carly was sequestered in the apartment and her father even dismissed their cleaning lady so no one would be the wiser as to her condition. She was shuffled to and from doctor's appointments away from the base where there wasn't any chance she would be seen by anyone who knew her or the colonel.

Her father allowed her to send the occasional email or letter, but never permitted so much as a sentence to go out without his approving it. His training as a military officer with a high security clearance was put to task with his own daughter as its focus. Carly thought it would have been easier to smuggle the plans to a top secret airplane to her friends than to tell them she was going to have a baby.

* * *

Before he left for college, Sam and Freddie went out a few times and even shared a few kisses. It wasn't until he came home for holiday break that they officially become a couple again. As the two lay snuggled up in Sam's bed on New Year's eve, (Sam's mom had went to Vegas again and there was no privacy to be had at the Bensons' thanks to Marissa's security cameras) they again wondered what became of their brunette friend.

"I can't believe we didn't hear anything from Carly for Christmas." Sam began as Freddie twirled her hair around his fingers and stroked her bare back.

"I kind of expected her to come home to see Spencer for the holidays." She continued and raised her head off her boyfriend's shirtless chest to look at him.

"He hasn't said anything, but I think it really bummed him out, too. He had bought all kinds of stuff for her and everything. I feel really bad for him. I guess we could go over there tomorrow and help cheer him up. Maybe we can hang out for a while, you know like old times." Freddie replied.

"We should do that. And then maybe we can sneak off and make out in the old studio if he gets distracted. God knows we can't so much as hold hands at your place or Crazy goes off the rails."

"Can you imagine what she'd do if she knew what we just did?" Freddie chuckled. "I'd have to check her into Troubled Waters. Or wherever they send people her age that come unglued."

"She can't expect you to be a virgin forever, Fredwad. I mean, after all, you've been in college on the other side of the country. Speaking of which, how many nerdy MIT chicks have you been bagging. I bet some of them are really cutting loose now that they're away from home."

"Huh?"

"Come on, I know those nerd girls go one of two ways, they're either eternal virgins that are terminally frigid or closet sluts and as soon as they get those glasses and pocket protectors off, look out because the'd hump a coffee table if it was warm enough."

"Heh, that pretty much sums it up. Er, um, from what I hear. But I actually haven't even dated anyone. I don't know, there's too much work to do and I'm not really attracted to any of them. Plus I was kind of saving myself for a special girl back home."

"Oh, come on, like you really want me to believe you were a virgin two weeks ago." Sam quipped. "I might not be all that experienced or have more than one guy to compare you to, but you definitely knew what you were doing the first time we did it."

"I've, um, studied. You know, uh - techniques. Online. And no, I wasn't a virgin. Not really." He got kind of embarrassed at making this revelation to his girlfriend.

"Aha! I knew you watched porn." Sam teased him, poking him in the chest. "I can't believe it, little Freddie Benson watches internet porn. What would your mother say if she checked your browser history young man? She would either die of a heart attack or just completely lose what's left of her mind."

"Sam!" Freddie scolded her for teasing him. "Besides, you think I'm not smart enough to cover my tracks, ever hear of incognito mode?"

"So, who was she? I told you about my first time with Stephan, my only time before you." Before senior year, Sam had one guy she was remotely serious about besides Freddie and it turned out he was only interested in her for one thing. When he got that, he suddenly broke up with her.

"N - no one." He was embarrassed to tell her that his first time was with their mutual best friend. "It was just kind of stupid the way it happened, it didn't mean anything to me. I'd really rather forget it. You know, take a virginity do-over. My first time that meant anything was with you, Baby."

"Seriously, dude. Come on!" Sam really wanted to know and flicked his nose. "You do realize I'm going to keep harassing you about this until you tell me. Or I could just shut you off. No more sex till you come clean. It's no big deal if it was some stripper or something. Just tell me who she was. It was a girl wasn't it?"

Freddie just rolled his eyes at the implication. "Of course it was a girl, I'm not gay. Obviously."

He knew the blonde was sure to make life hell for him if he didn't come clean. As much as he just wanted to forget it ever happened, he decided to just tell her. "Carly." He said quietly, almost too quiet for Sam to hear, but she did.

"What, I didn't hear you right, I almost thought you say you've slept with Carly. And I know for an absolute fact that's not what you said. Wait, I get it. You fantasized about Carly so many times when you whacked it to internet porn, you think you actually did it with her. Oh, Fredward. Silly little naive Fredward."

"I - I did." He blushed. "My first time, my only time before you, it - it was with Carly."

"Psh! Yeah, right. You shagged Carly and I had a three way with Dave and Fleck." Sam laughed. "Be serious, Fredlumps. You tapped Carly. Suuuuuure. I know, I'll bet it was the same day the Jonas brothers ran a train on me." Sam laughed out loud and slapped his chest.

 **Uh, oh. So did our friend Freddie step in it this time?**

 **Have a safe and happy 2017.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Previously:_

 _"What, I didn't hear you right, I almost thought you say you've slept with Carly. And I know for an absolute fact that's not what you said. Wait, I get it. You fantasized about Carly so many times when you whacked it to internet porn, you think you actually did it with her. Oh, Fredward. Silly little naive Fredward."_

 _"I - I did." He blushed. "My first time, my only time before you, it - it was with Carly."_

 _"Psh! Yeah, right. You shagged Carly and I had a three way with Dave and Fleck." Sam laughed. "Be serious, Fredlumps. You tapped Carly. Suuuuuure. I know, I'll bet it was the same day the Jonas brothers ran a train on me." Sam laughed out loud and slapped his chest._

Chapter 6

"I am serious. Carly and I, we uh - we did it and it was my first time, both our first times, actually. It was the day she left. Really."

Sam just looked him, puzzled. Was he serious? He had to be serious, he wasn't that good of a liar.

He continued. "She was supposed to be in her room packing. I was gathering up my chiz from the studio and next thing she was there with her arms around me, telling me what a great friend I was and how much she'd miss me. And - and then we kissed. It wasn't some sexy, romantic kiss at first. Actually, I think when she kissed me and I sort of wondered what the frick was going on, an - and then I kissed her back."

Sam didn't know whether to believe him or not. "And." Her bullshit detector was far too sensitive for him to pull anything on her. Still something began to nag at her deep down inside.

"Next thing I know, she's kissing me harder, and then we're like, full on making out and then hands touched certain places and then somehow we ended up in her bed."

Sam began to look upset and pushed back from him, saying nothing. She remembered a conversation they had shared earlier that day and the memory hurt her like a knife to the chest.

"You're not mad are you? I know I had just asked you about getting back together that morning and then . . . " It was like he read Sam's mind. "I swear, I had no intention of sleeping with her. It wasn't like I planned it. And Carly, well she made it clear there were no strings attached, nothing romantic. It - it just kind of happened."

"Oh, your junk just happened to fall into hers. Jesus, Freddie, did you even consider how I would feel? You ask me if we can give it another shot and then you jump in the sack with my best friend a few hours later. You know what, maybe you should just go. We can talk about this more tomorrow. I think I - I think I just need some space right now." She stood from the bed and turned half way away from him in a search for clothing.

"Sam!" He jumped off the bed and stood behind her. "Don't be upset, baby. It was your idea to talk about this. What if I had said my first time was with Valerie or Wendy or just some random girl you don't even know at MIT? Would that make you upset or are you just mad because I lost my virginity to Carly?"

"Freddie, I'm not upset because of who it was, it's because of the goddamn timing." She slowly turned around and confronted him with a sigh. As bad as she wanted to yell at him and kick him out, she just couldn't get past his sad eyes. She knew hurting her was the last thing he'd do, at least on purpose.

"Aw, Sam. I'm so sorry, I knew sleeping with her was all a big mistake as soon as it happened. If I could go back in time, I would; and I'd stop it from ever happening."

Sam remained silent. She wasn't sure what she should do next and as much fun as torturing him was, she did love him and hurting him was not an option either..

"Believe me, it didn't take me too long to feel like a complete stub rag for doing it with her. And you want to know the worst part? It was when we'd both be chatting with her online and she pretended not to, but I could see her looking at me funny and even the last time we talked to her I could tell she had something to say but was too embarrassed to say it because of the whole damn mess."

Sam just nodded slightly.

"I don't know why but it was just a weird feeling and it kind of freaked me out. I know it's not like you and I were anything more than friends at the time but it just made shit too complicated. And don't even get me started on how I feel around Spencer. Talk about freaked out. I mean, I screwed his little sister for God's sake. And now, he's like my best bud. An - and he doesn't have a clue."

"I guess you're right. We weren't together and it's stupid of me to think you wouldn't sleep with her if she offered it. But what about now. If - if she came back?" She looked down at the floor, not wanting to see his eyes when he told her the truth. If he left for another girl, especially Carly, it would wreck her.

"Sam, I want you to know, ever since our first kiss, you were always my first choice. Carly was just there." He put a hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "Every time I tell you I love you I mean it. It doesn't matter if Carly comes back or some girl at school asks me out, whatever. Hell, even if some hot singer like Jenette McCurdy was to come along and flirt with me, it's real simple, I have a girlfriend that I love and care about and I'm committed to. Period. I wouldn't even consider any of them. Hey, come to think of it, did you ever notice that you kind of look like Jenette?"

No matter how aggressive or downright rough she could be by times, Sam was still a girl and she needed to know her boyfriend wasn't just stringing her along. Especially after the last guy dumped her two days after the first time she went all the way with him. Sam slowly put her arms around his neck and his arms snaked their way around her bare mid-section. "I love you, Freddie. Just please don't play with my heart."

Utterly surprised at this different 'girly' side of Sam, Freddie kissed her lips. "I love you, Princess Puckett. Forever. I promise."

* * *

At that very moment in Italy, a dark haired American girl was in labor in a small hospital just outside of the Air Force base. She was accompanied by no friends or family, just one doctor and a couple of nurses.

Her father waited patiently outside the room, answering texts on his phone. For someone as high ranking as him to take time away from the base so suddenly was unusual and he still had Air Force responsibilities. No one he worked with had any idea his teenage daughter was pregnant and no one besides him and the hospital staff was aware she had went into labor a few weeks early. Had her baby kept with the date the doctor had given her, he would have been able to ask for leave but this situation was an emergency of the highest priority.

"Sir, your daughter is asking for you." A nurse came out into the hall and summoned to colonel with a smile.

"Is it over?" He inquired with no emotion. He may have been wearing civilian clothes but anyone could tell he was military through and through. "How's my daughter? Is Carly alright?" He stood straight and serious.

"She's doing well, all things considered. You have a grandson." The nurse informed him in a cheery tone. "Come this way and you can see them."

The man entered the room to witness his beloved daughter holding a small bundle wrapped in blue blankets with a tiny knit cap on his head. The child was snuggled into his mother's chest fast asleep. As he breathed a sigh of relief, his heart began to soften to the idea that his daughter was a mother now.

"They need to take him to the NICU soon, Daddy. Do you want to say hello before he goes?" She said quietly.

As soon as he looked at the baby he noticed the resemblance to his own son as a newborn. And the resemblance Carly had to her mother holding Spencer for the first time all those years ago. "How do you feel, sweetheart?" He asked, trying not to look too hard at the child. He didn't want to become attached to the baby he was still insistent his daughter would give up for adoption like they planned.

"I'm really sore and tired, but I'm sure I'll be alright." She replied with a sigh. "They say I can go home tomorrow if the bleeding stops but little Freddie will have to stay for at least a week because he was a little early."

Her father sighed. "Oh, Carly. Why did you name him? I thought you were going to consider adoption like we discussed."

"I have considered it." She replied shortly. "And I decided against it. I'm keeping this baby. So I named him Freddie Spencer Shay." With the nurse and staff as witnesses, he surely wouldn't push the issue any further. "I'm not giving up my baby."

"But Carly, we've been through all this. The baby needs to be put up for adoption so you can go to college. We even talked to a lawyer back in the states about the plan and she has a family all set up for him to go with. As soon as he's out of the hospital, we'll fly back to America and make the final arrangements. A month from now, this will all be behind us."

"Can we please not get into this now. I was in labor for over ten hours, I need to rest." About that time, a tall nurse came over to the bed to take the baby to the NICU for observation. Since he was a couple of weeks premature, little Freddie would be watched very closely for a few days to make sure his body had developed properly and no complications set in.

As soon as her father left the room, Carly asked for a tablet and an envelope. She knew this would be a rare chance to not be under her father's direct observation and she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to write a letter. The nurse returned with the stationery and instead of resting, Carly slowly pulled herself up, positioned the tablet on her lap and began to write.

 _Dear Freddie,_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _Dear Freddie,_

 _I'm sorry I haven't been able to contact you and I know everyone is probably worried about me. Before I go any further, I should tell you my dad has taken my phone and my computer and forbid me from contacting anyone back home. My life has been almost that of a prisoner for the last seven and a half months. This is the first I've even been able to even write without him seeing the letters and I know he would just destroy them._

 _I wish I could tell you this in person, but I have no other way to contact you and there's something I need to tell you desperately. First off, I really miss you, Freddie and I was a fool to not agree to be your girlfriend after we made love. I've been thinking a lot about that day. It's been kind of hard for me to forget it because every time I look in the mirror I'm reminded of that day._

 _I got pregnant and you're a father now. Little Freddie was just born this morning and my dad is trying to force me to give him up for adoption but I don't want to. I know you wouldn't want to either. He reminds me of what we shared with each other and how I really feel about you. I want us to be a family, Freddie._

 _If you get this and want to see your son and me, you need to talk to Spencer. Tell him I need to get away from my dad and I need his help. We need his help. He has my address and he'll come to Italy with you to straighten this all out. You need to carefully explain all this to him and show him this letter._

 _This part is for Spencer: Help me! I need you to trust Freddie and get me away from our father before he makes me give away my child! Please, I'm counting on you both._

She continued for several more paragraphs before signing her name inside a big heart.

After she finished the letter, Carly again summoned assistance.

"Everything alright, Miss?" The nurse came into the room. "Do you need something for the discomfort or to help you sleep?"

"Can you mail this letter for me, please? It's going to America. I hope that's not too much trouble." Carly was nearly asleep but she knew she had to get the letter out of her hospital room before her father returned and saw it. "But it has to go out today. It's for my baby's father. And you can't tell my dad. Please."

"Alright dear, I'm post it myself on my lunch break, but you really need to rest. Now please try to get some sleep. You've been through a very difficult labor for a young woman and you did lose a good bit of blood."

Carly drifted off to sleep thinking about how Freddie might react to the news that he had a son and how he'd surely come rushing to her side. After all, that's the kind of man he was, loyal and true. She knew he would do the right thing and stand by her and help her raise their baby. Her dreams were of them raising their son in the perfect house on the perfect street, like a 1960's sitcom.

* * *

Eight days later, Freddie had returned to MIT, Sam was back in classes at community college and working a part time job and Carly was counting the days until she thought she'd see Freddie again. Mrs. Benson made her way through the lobby of the Bushwell building on her way home from work. She stopped by the doorman's desk for her mail.

"Any mail for me, Lewbert?" Despite her obsessions and his attitude, Marissa tried to be civil to him.

"Gaaaaah! I was trying to take a nap. Oh, Mrs. Benson, yeah, I have a few things for you." The warty man emerged from his office and handed her several envelopes from under his desk. "That one's for your son, it's from the Shay girl in Italy, do you want me to forward it to him at his school?"

"Oh, her! Throw it away for all I care." Marissa huffed.

Lewbert just looked at her.

"I'm sorry, Lewbert. I'm still upset that he spent his entire holiday break with that delinquent blonde Puckett girl. But at least she's trying to do something worthwhile with her life. Now here's this stuck up young lady sending him letters. I never liked her, especially after that time she almost got my boy killed. I'm glad she moved away and I just wish she'd leave my Freddiekins alone."

Lewbert merely shrugged and returned to his sanctuary as Marissa stepped off toward the elevator. She was tempted to open the letter to see what business Carly possibly could have with her son but opening mail intended for others was rude. It would be better to just throw it away and hope she didn't write again. As soon as the elevator door opened, she was barraged by Spencer Shay, who was running toward the front door of the building, half dressed. Marissa just shook her head. "Weirdo" She said to herself. "I'll never understand what my Fredward sees in any of them."

As she entered the apartment, Marissa took off her shoes and coat and simply tossed the cream colored envelope into the trash can before opening her other mail. She decided she could care less what Carly wanted with her son. Hopefully if he didn't write back she'd take the hint and not bother to write him again. If he and Sam were together, she could learn to accept it. But she could not abide by Carly in any form.

* * *

Back in Italy, Carly had returned to her father's house with the baby. The young lady was determined not to put her child up for adoption and even her father began to grow attached to the little fellow in time. He came to accept the idea that maybe raising this child wasn't the most horrible thing that could happen. He was still determined that Carly was to not have contact with the baby's father. He reasoned that their high school fling would only lead to tragedy and heartbreak for his daughter and that she needed to move on with her life.

The two reached an accord that she would keep the child but not disclose to Freddie that he was a father. As much as it broke her heart, Carly came to realize that Freddie was not going to come and sweep her off her feet. He either never got her letter or decided to ignore it altogether. After all, who would blame him for not wanting to be tied down to a girl and a baby during his first year of college. In the long run, she simply gave up on the idea of reuniting with her old friends and simply chose to follow her dad's lead and keep the whole situation under wraps.

The weeks turned to months and, despite his initial reservations, Carly's father not only came to accept the baby, but actually began to grow quite fond of him. The fact that he gave up on the idea of forcing her to adopt out the baby helped to repair the rift that had formed between them. In her mind, she saw her dad's bonding with his grandson as his displaced attempt to make up for what he missed when she and Spencer were growing up and he was stationed away from the family.

He did allow her to call Spencer, if she promised not to tell him about the baby. She talked and even video chatted her brother a few times a month, but after a while it became very difficult to get in touch with him. She reasoned he must have found a serious girlfriend that was taking up most of his free time.

Spencer had, in fact, found a new girlfriend. He reasoned that Carly was busy and had moved on with her life and no longer needed him as an anchor to Seattle. She went for so long without contact and their father told him she was busy preparing for her future, so Spencer thought nothing of moving on himself without worrying about his little sister.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for the kind reviews on the last chapter and those who have followed and favorited this story. Congrats to anyone who picked up on the 2 lines (as one of the guest reviewers noted) that Marissa is trying to warm up to Sam. While she's annoying by times, I find the Marissa character to be so ridiculous, she's funny (and even kind of familiar in a few ways-sorry Mom) and while I like keeping her as crazy as possible, I also like the idea that she and Sam will eventually bond due to their mutual feelings for Freddie.**

Chapter 8

Freddie and Sam talked nearly every day and maintained their long-distance relationship across the two thousand plus miles that separated them. From her part time job, Sam had saved up her money and made the trip to Boston for his spring break. Fortunately, Freddie's roommate had chosen to go to Cancun with his friends, leaving the two with a room all to themselves.

They spent the first few days ordering take out food, watching cheesy sci-fi movies on his computer and hanging out in his dorm room. Several days in, they had switched up their routine and actually left the room for a walk around the campus. Freddie insisted that she get to see the whole place, even though she could have cared less. She was there to see him, not a bunch of old, mossy brick buildings, but she was getting tired or seeing the same four walls day after day. Even if those four walls contained her boyfriend and his bed.

"As soon as we get back to the room, you owe me a foot rub. This place is huge. How the chiz do all you nerdy, out of shape people hike all over this joint every day? Man, I'm tired just getting from one building to another."

"Most of the time this is really the only form of exercise around here. Not like too many people hit the gym regularly."

"I couldn't live like this. I might be going to some third rate community college but at least I don't have to walk all over hell's creation to get between classes." Sam again griped, sitting down on a bench. "I think you're going to have to carry me back to the room."

Freddie just rolled his eyes. "C'mon Puckett. The sooner we get back, the sooner you can have that leftover fried chicken."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Sam jumped up and took off. "There's chicken to eat, Fredbag."

As the two walked together, Sam brought up the Shays. "I forgot to tell you, Spencer's got himself a pretty serious girlfriend. I saw them at the Groovy Smoothie last weekend but they didn't see me. They were all over each other, let me tell you. Talk about PDA."

"Yeah, You know how Gibby lives on Splashface. He was saying that Spencer put her picture and stuff on his page the other week." Freddie replied. "I can't really tell what he sees in her, well, other than the obvious." He held his hands up to his chest. "By next week he'll probably move onto someone new."

"Hey, that's it!" Sam stopped and shouted.

"What, that Gibby lives online or that Spencer goes through women like candy?" Freddie chuckled. "Thanks for the tip, Captain Obvious?"

"No, doofus! Splashface! I'll bet Carly has an account. That's how we can find out what she's been up to, since she's completely ghosted both of us. I'll bet it's because she hooked up with some tall dark and handsome Italian stud. Have you ever looked for her online?"

"Doesn't that kind of seem like something a stalker would do?" He had considered it, but always felt weird about trying it, especially since he was with Sam and had history with Carly.

"You _are_ the resident computer nerd you're supposed to be good at this kind of junk. I don't know anything about any of it. I don't even have a Splashface account."

"I thought you had a Splashface page when we were in high school." He countered.

"Nah, I always used the iCarly one. I never liked the idea of putting my life online. Too many weirdos and creeps out there."

"I've always thought that, too. I have a page but it's pretty generic. I haven't updated in in months, but I guess I could put up some new pictures, let the world know I've got such a hot girlfriend." He put his arm around her waist. "You know, make my classmates jealous."

"Daaamn, what are you kissing up about. I told you I'm not letting you do _that._ In fact, if you don't quite asking me to do _that_ , I'll do _that_ to you."

Freddie just looked at her, wondering how a girl was going to do what he thought she was talking about to a guy.

They returned to his room and, as Sam dug into her fried chicken pieces, Freddie sat about to updating his online presence. He filled in as much as he was comfortable with sharing online: where he went to school, who some of his friends were and the like. Mostly, he uploaded pictures of him and Sam, though. There were pictures of the two hanging out over Christmas break, and in their younger years and from high school graduation. Even a few from this week.

It only took Gibby a few minutes to respond to Freddie's friend request and start to like his pictures and make comments. Freddie just rolled his eyes and Sam made a Marge Simpson grumble at the big guy's comment of 'DUUUUUUDE!' to the recent picture of the two of them snuggled up in his bed taken yesterday, neither of them obviously wearing a shirt. He just hoped his mother didn't somehow stumble across it or she'd surely lose her mind.

Freddie then searched but the only page he could find for Carly stopped being updated about ten months ago, long before graduation. There were a few old photos of when she first arrived in Italy, a couple of comments from new friends she had apparently made since moving and some information about her new school. On her last update, she noted that she had to tell her father something that she had no details about and implored her friends to wish her luck.

"Hey, isn't this weird?" Freddie asked Sam, who was looking over his shoulder munching on a drumstick. "It's like she dropped off the face of the Earth all of a sudden back last spring."

"You're right, she went from posting stuff a couple of times a day to nothing." Sam observed. "The thing about having to tell her dad something. I bet she ran off with some dude. She's probably living in the Alps somewhere loving it up and having the time of her life."

They certainly couldn't come up with any other explanation as to why Carly had seemingly been abducted by aliens. It didn't seem right that she hadn't at least attempted to make contact.

"Yeah, I guess that's probably it, she got herself a new boyfriend and she's all wrapped up with him and absorbed into his life so much that she forgot all about updating Splashface _and_ calling us." Freddie smirked. "That's Carly for you."

"I still have a gut feeling something's just off about this whole thing. As soon as I get home, I need to talk to Spencer and see what he knows." Sam said, picking chicken meat from her teeth with a fingernail. "I told you how it really bothered him that she didn't even call him or anything over Christmas."

"Well good luck with that, according to Gibby, as wrapped up in Sasha as he probably is, you'll be lucky to even find him."

* * *

Sam returned to Seattle Sunday afternoon and before even going home, made a stop at Bushwell to hunt up Spencer. Fortunately, she ran into him coming out of the smoothie shop, his girlfriend on his arm.

"Hey Sam. You remember Sasha." Spencer had his arm around the girl.

"Yeah. Nice to see you again. Listen, Spencer. I was just visiting Freddie at MIT and we got to wondering something. Um, you know it's been forever since we heard anything from Carly. Have you talked to her lately or anything?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, yeah. She sent me an email the other day. I've been kind of tied up with Sasha and we haven't chatted for a month or so but she's great. Having the time of her life." Spencer was too preoccupied with his date to concern himself with his sister. "I guess."

Sam was determined not to let him off so easily. "So you have heard from her in the past, say 8 or 10 months?"

"Yeah, sure. She was really busy there for a while. You know, getting used to the new school, graduation, preparing for college and all. Dad called and told me she didn't have much time to talk, but since the first of the year she's been doing a better job of keeping in touch. She emails here and there, she even called once or twice. I guess it was her New Year's resolution or something. "

"So you're sure she's alright and she's not all weirded out or mad at me or Fredlumps or anything?" Sam didn't want to say why she thought Carly might be weirded out at Freddie.

"Can't imagine why she would be. Haven't you heard from her?" Spencer couldn't believe his sister didn't keep in touch with her best friend. And, of course he had no idea why things would be weird between Carly and Freddie.

"Nope. And neither has Fredlumps. We thought she fell into a black hole or something it's been so long since we heard from her. She hasn't even been updating her Splashface page."

"Ah, she probably just has a new boyfriend or something." Spencer blew off the blonde's worries. "Hey, speaking of Freddie. How was your trip to MIT?"

"It was cool. The campus sucks, it's like a day and a half hike to get anywhere, but it was good seeing ol' Fredbag again."

"So are you guys getting pretty serious then?" The artist nudged her in the ribs.

"Psh. You think I'd have spent two months savings and flown clear across the country if I couldn't stand the sight of him. Yeah, we're pretty darn serious." She smirked at him.

"Just be careful you guys. I know what it's like to be in college. There's a lot of pressure and it's gotta be almost impossible when you're thinking about someone in another state. Plus there's the temptation of hot college girls everywhere."

"You were in college less than a week, weren't you?" Sam reminded him. "How much experience could you possibly have?"

"Since when do you care about details?" Spencer defended. "And I'll have you know I'm going back to school starting next semester. I'm finally finishing my degree. I think I might like to teach art."


	9. Chapter 9

**OK, so now let's catch up with what Carly's been doing.**

Chapter 9

A few months later, Carly had managed to persuade her father to allow her to sign up for college classes in the fall. She had chosen to attend a college close to where her father lived that had child care on site for little Freddie. Of course, Stephen Shay realized that Carly's attending classes would mean she would be out of his complete control but he was confident he had convinced her that she did not need to have her old friends involved in her life, especially the baby's father. It had been months since she brought up anything about Seattle, other than her brother, and she herself actually thought about her old life and friends less and less.

Over the summer, Carly was at freshman orientation with a group of other students for their tour around campus. The group were introduced to their student union, the various lecture halls and the library. She even took a few minutes to meet the head of the on-campus day care center and picked up an application for child care when she attended class. As she was leaving the building, she met another young lady with a baby in a carriage about the same age as hers who was there for the same reason.

"Hi, I see you have a little boy, too. He's so sweet." Carly cooed at the baby, missing her own. Today was the first day she went anywhere without little Freddie. "Mine's almost seven months old."

"Oh, him too. He was a new year's baby." The girl said with a British accent. "Well a new year's eve baby, little fellow couldn't have waited another forty five minutes."

"Really. My son was born on New Years too, five thirty six in the morning." Carly was excited. She was already lining up play dates for the two boys in her mind. "Isn't that cool, our kids are the exact same age but were born in different years. I'm Carly by the way."

"Rose. A Pleasure to meet you." The red head extended a hand to Carly. "Do you mind of I ask, but are you iCarly Carly? If not, you look just like her."

"That's me. God, that part of my life seems so long ago." Carly sighed. "Really long ago."

"OMG! I thought so. I used to watch your show all the time. Until my old boyfriend got a crush on your co-star so I had to quit watching. Eh, he was a wanker anyway." She frowned at the thought of him. "Sorry, I don't mean to go all fan girl on you, I just never met anyone famous before."

"Hey, do you wanna grab a coffee or um, a cup of tea or something?" Carly tried to be friendly, she hadn't made too many friends since she came to Italy and she was desperately in need of someone her own age to talk to. Another mother would be just perfect. "My treat."

"Uh, thanks, sounds good. I could use a cup of coffee. We British don't all drink tea, in case you were wondering." She grinned.

"Um, sorry. I don't really know anyone from England all that well."

"I guess we'll have to change that." The two girls made their way to a small coffee shop beside the library. "So are you excited to start class?" Rose asked.

"Uhh, I guess. I really was supposed to be majoring in English Literature. I actually got accepted to a college in London, but I had to go with something a bit more modest _and_ closer home. Maybe some day I can go back to that but for now I'll just take the physical therapy degree and try to get a good job."

"Hey, that's my major, too. I only have a year and a half to go. I just started my third year when I found out I was, well - you know. Then came four plus months of bed rest and a last minute emergency c-section. I'll tell you though, I don't know if I'm ready to be away from him all day. I never dreamed how stressful it would be to let your kid with someone else. It's why he's along today, I just couldn't let him behind. Stupid isn't it, I mean I was going to arrange for day-care, but I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my kid with a sitter."

Carly just nodded.

"So, you have any pictures of your little tyke?" Rose asked Carly. "Since you apparently aren't as neurotic as I am about leaving him with a sitter."

"Actually, I'm pretty stressed about being away from him. He's with his grandfather or he'd be with me, too. You're right, cutting that cord is rough." Carly pulled out her phone to show Rose some pictures. Even before she had the baby she had managed to convince her dad to give her phone back, but it was set up not to make international calls at his insistence.

"Aw, he's a sweetie." The English girl fussed. "He's got your nose, that's for sure."

"My dad says he looks like my brother did as a baby. Speaking of which, I guess I should soon go home." She looked at the time. "My dad still has to go in to work today, but he managed to get the morning off."

"How about his father? You guys still together?" Rose asked innocently as Carly's face fell.

This was the first Carly thought about Freddie for a while. "Um, no. Uh, he - he doesn't really know." Carly said with a note of embarrassment. "It-it's complicated. See I found out I was pregnant after I moved to Italy and he's back home and . . . "

"Say no more." Rose held up a hand. "No need to explain to me. Not my business, love. Sorry to bring it up and all."

"That's OK, Rose." Carly smiled. "You had no way of knowing."

The two girls exchanged numbers and pledged to keep in touch. Carly returned home to relieve her dad of babysitting duty. As she sat down to feed her baby, with him in her arms, her thoughts drifted back to Freddie. She wondered how he was doing at MIT. He had received his acceptance letter a few weeks before she moved away. Then she thought of her best friend who still had no idea what she was going to do for college the last they talked. She pulled out her phone and scrolled to Splashface where she did a fast search for Sam Puckett. The only result being old links to the iCarly website since Sam didn't have an account of her own.

Carly thought about updating her page for a minute, but the thought was gone quickly after little Freddie spit up all over the front of her clothing.

* * *

Back in the states, Sam and Freddie were enjoying their summer break together. Well, his summer break. Sam, despite her reservations against school, decided to take a few classes over the summer to get ahead of everyone else. She reasoned that the sooner she got her credits, the sooner she could get a job. Freddie kept pushing her to move onto a regular college for a higher degree but she insisted that she didn't want to spend any more time in school than would be necessary for her to obtain decent employment.

Sam stumbled into the Benson's apartment on a Thursday afternoon, carrying several books and a large bag of food. Freddie was sitting on the sofa with his laptop open when she flopped down beside him, tossing the books onto the coffee table and digging into her lunch.

"Man, I'm starved. I can't believe how long that stupid class went on today."

"So I take it you have homework, judging by the pile of books." Freddie leaned into her for a kiss and then had to wipe mustard off his lips.

"Correction. _We_ have homework. I need you to help me study for mid-terms." Sam said before shoving a handful of fries into her mouth.

"What do I have to do with it?" He asked.

Sam kept wolfing into the take-out. "Well, the way I see it, _my_ schooling will be done long before yours is and we'll be using _my_ income to pay for chiz like food and rent so you don't have to dip into your precious trust fund. So after I get out of school, I'll be the one to support us. At least until you get your degree and land a job with Pear or something and make a pile of money. And if I'm going to be supporting your nubby butt, _you_ can help me study."

"Now, Sam. You know my trust fund is for college expenses ONLY." He reminded her. "I can't go pulling money out for fast food or rent or anything else random." Freddie tried to snitch a chicken nugget, only to have his hand slapped. "And are you actually planning out our future together?"

"Psh. You got a scholarship, doofus. What college expenses could you possibly have?" Sam said with a mouthful. "And yes, I've thought about where we're going to be in five years. Well, you'll probably still we working on that Master's degree or some chizzy doctorate but I'll be working my butt off to pay our bills and put a roof over our heads."

"Man, you _have_ thought about this. I'm impressed, baby!" He again tried to steal a fry. This time, she let him before shoving the last of them into her mouth. "But my scholarship only pays for my classes and part of my dorm room. I still have books and lab fees, plus it is nice to eat something once in a while when I'm in Boston."

"So you pay a little bit of board for your dorm room, buy a few stupid used books, maybe a couple of boxes of macaroni and cheese or some Ramen. I still think you could afford to pay rent on an apartment in Seattle or at least sub-let one for the summer so we wouldn't have to live at your mom's place." Sam argued as she polished off her burger.

"I know you're uncomfortable here, but my mom's trying to be nice and give us our space. Plus the rent's free. Besides it not like she's still into the whole 'weigh what you eat and weigh what comes out' routine like she was when T-Bo first lived here. Maybe we can look into something else for next summer." He put his arm around her.

"I guess you're right. But I'm still worried she's gonna break into the guest room at night and spray me with tick repellent or something. Now, like I said, help me study." Sam grabbed the books and plopped them on top of his computer. "Annd it would be nice to be able to spend the night in the same bed." She whispered so Marissa wouldn't hear her. "We could do that if we had our own place without your mom's stupid security cameras. I still feel like I'm living in a jewelry store or something with all the damn cameras around."

 **Yes, Sam's staying in the Benson's guest room. We'll get into that more in the next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As Sam and Freddie were preparing to study, Mrs. Benson came out of the hallway dressed for work in her nurse's scrubs. "Hello Samantha. Classes over for the day already?"

"Hey, Marissa. Yep, all done for the day. Well, except Freddie's gonna help me study for a big test I have on Monday." Sam tried to be civil with the woman, who had come to accept her as a part of her son's life. The obsessive mother begun to come around to Sam when she decided to take nursing classes at community college. She eventually offered the blonde her guest room when Pam Puckett suddenly moved to Oregon to live on a commune with her newest boyfriend in the spring.

"Aw, that's nice, dear. It's important for couples to support what each other does. Now, Freddiebear I'll be working a double shift but I should be home by about seven tomorrow morning. I don't want you to eat nothing but junk food and sit around watching silly movies all evening. And you are to spend the night in your own bed, understand me, young man." She could always make Freddie feel like he was eight years old and she somehow knew what the young couple was thinking.

"Okay, mom. We'll eat healthy and hit the books." Freddie held up a textbook. "Looks like we have, um, anatomy to study."

Marissa leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed her son's cheek. "See you tomorrow, darling. Oh, and Sam, I just wanted to say I'm extremely proud of you. You're really applying yourself to your classes and I am very impressed with your maturity." She patted the blonde's shoulder before heading out the door.

"Well, shit. That was weird." Sam smirked and grabbed the books from Freddie's lap and put them back on the coffee table. "Did she actually just compliment me?"

"What are you doing? I thought we had to study."

"Yep, and your mom's gonna be gone for over sixteen hours, we've got lots of time for that. Later. Besides, I'm supposed to be studying anatomy. I think I need some hands-on practice with male physiology." She pulled him to his feet.

"And I think you've come to the right place for help."

"Bedroom. Now. Fredstud." Sam demanded and gave him a quick kiss.

"Yours or mine?"

"Mine. You think I can get in the mood with all those goofy nub-nub figurines watching me." She led him back the hall.

"Uh, it's Nug-Nug." He protested. "And I did pack _most_ of them away last year. Because someone insisted."

"You wanna argue about Nub-Nub or do something more fun?"

* * *

Nearly two years later, Freddie had completed his junior year and Sam had taken a job at the hospital where Marissa worked. She wasn't a nurse, she was still taking a few classes and she figured by the time Freddie got his degree, she'd be able to apply for a nursing license and get a better position. For now she was working in the ER taking vital signs and helping with patients.

The two had been discussing their future, especially since Freddie was all set to begin a graduate program at the University of Washington as soon as he was done at MIT. Their plan included getting their own apartment when he came home for holiday break and him picking up a part time job after graduation to help with their income while at UW. For now Sam was still living with Marissa and, unbelievably, had actually been getting along pretty well with her.

What Sam wasn't aware of, was that Freddie planned to propose before he went back to school. His mother had helped him pick out a ring and plan a special weekend for them to be all alone shortly before he was set to return to Boston. Marissa had even pulled some strings with the head of scheduling at the hospital to make sure Sam would have a nice, long weekend to spend with Freddie while she, herself headed out to visit her sister out of state.

A year later, Freddie finished off his degree at MIT as an engaged man and by the time he graduated, Sam had already applied for her nurse's license and the couple was busy settling into their own apartment. He found a part time job working in the IT department for the local school district while preparing to start his graduate work at UW in the fall.

* * *

At the same time, Carly had only just completed her third year of school and was beginning to look for a job she could work at for her final year of training. She knew working, going to school and taking care of a pre-schooler would be exhausting but she loved her son and was finally getting to the point where she and her father again had a civil relationship and she wanted to keep it that way.

On a personal front, she had made a new best friend in Rose and the two girls spent a lot of time together. Rose became a go-to babysitter when Carly had to study and needed quiet and Carly kept Rose's son when she had to work late or went out with her boyfriend. Their two children were as close as brothers and even though both boys had other friends, they frequently played together.

The young mothers were at Rose's apartment making cookies for a bake sale at the day-care center. Rose had just been in a pretty serious argument with her man and Carly was trying to help her get through it. Their sons were down for their afternoon nap giving the two mothers some quality girl time to decompress.

"He's not a bad guy, he just has trouble dealing with people." Carly tried to calm her friend down. "No offense."

"Not offensive to me, Love. He's just a wanker that can't keep his mouth shut in order to save his job. Honestly, who says stuff like that to their boss?"

"He'll find another job. He always does. His boss sounded like a jerk anyway."

"Maybe he was, but he'd better find something before he comes back home. I'm tired of supporting his ass. You can be lucky you don't have to put up with this kind of horse shit from a man."

Carly's eyes fell and Rose knew she hit a nerve. "Sorry, Carly. I didn't mean it that way. I know you're lonely."

"No, no. it's alright. I understand what you mean. I don't have anyone to wazz me off on a daily basis."

"C'mon now, it's not alright. You don't have anyone besides your dad and here I am bitching about Jeremy just because he's a bloody sheep shagger."

"Um, that's not really making me feel less lonely." Carly chuckled. "And what's a sheep shagger?"

"You don't want to know." Rose giggled. "So what's the deal with your baby daddy, anyway? You've never talked about him much other than to say went to some genius college on a scholarship. I'm guessing he's not really the kind of guy he seemed like on the show. Especially if he doesn't want anything to do with his own kid. I mean, I took him for a nerd, I never thought he was the love 'em and leave 'em type."

"Excuse me!" Carly got offended. "Freddie's not that kind of guy. I was actually my idea to have sex and I ended up getting knocked up. And I didn't tell him because my dad convinced me I was better off without him in my life." She didn't get into the part that she was basically under house arrest throughout the last two trimesters of her pregnancy and that to this day, her father still forbade her from calling anyone in Seattle, even her own brother, without him being in the room.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything. Do you mean to tell me you've really never told the guy he's a father. Wow!"

"Nope." Carly said, ashamed. "Well, I did send him a letter the day Freddie was born, but I never heard back from him. I guess either his overbearing mother found out and hit the roof or he just didn't want to complicate his life with a kid his first year of college. Maybe it was just all too much for him. Either way, I never heard beans from him. Dad's right, I don't need him, I'm doing just fine."

"Man, I can't believe you've never told him or even talked about it. Have you ever looked him up or anything? To see if he was still single or had any mention of you or his kid. If he even knows about him, that is."

"Nope." Carly simply replied with a shrug.

Rose grabbed her laptop and typed a few strokes. "Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?" She set her computer down in front of Carly. "Go for it." Splashface was opened up to a 'search for friends' screen.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Look for your guy, duh!" Rose acted like it was something Carly should have thought of herself.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"No. No, Rose, I - I can't. That's, like, textbook stalker chick right there. Look up your old boyfriends online."

"Considering he's your baby's daddy, I'd say it's not stalker chick at all. Maybe a bit desperate, but not stalker. And I thought he wasn't your boyfriend? Just someone you shook the sheets with."

"Well, back in tenth grade, we did kinda date for a little while. A very short little while. Then our one friend, who was jealous of us to begin with, convinced him that I was only going out with him because he saved my life and I had some kind of silly hero worship crush on him. So he ended it. But promised each other we'd try again some time and we never really have. The thing is, I always regretted us breaking up, an - and I think he did, too. At least I hope he did."

"And then of course there's the part where you let him screw your brains out before you left the states. You conveniently left that part out, sweetie."

"It wasn't like that! There was no brain screwing. We just . . . " Carly was embarrassed and said the next part quietly. "We just lost our innocence to each other the day I left."

"Ohhh myyy Gawwwd!" Rose exclaimed sounding like an eighties valley girl with a British accent. You mean he was your first, and you got preggers the first time you even did it? Damn, now you seriously have to find him. I mean, holy shit, Carly, that's either the most pathetic thing I've ever heard in my life or the most romantic. I don't know which."

"But I doubt he's even online or anything. He always used to say how he didn't like post chiz about his life online. He'd only ever put stuff on the iCarly page because I asked him to. And I'm sure he's too busy with school to even worry about something stupid like Splashface. He's super smart, he got into MIT on a scholarship and everything. Did I tell you that?"

"I believe you may have mentioned it." Rose rolled her eyes. "Well then, I guess the only thing you have to lose in trying is a little time if he's not there."

Carly huffed and made no move toward the computer. "It's pointless. Even if I did manage to find him there's no way we'd be able to reconnect. I'm sure he's in grad school by now, I live in Europe for Pete's sake." She threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "It's not like either of us is going to move across the Atlantic to be with the other. It's just - it's a complete was of time. And I just know my dad would skin me if I actually made contact with him!"

"Alright, first off your dad can suck it. You're a grown woman and you can do whatever you like. Second, there's no harm in finding out what he's been up to. It's not like you even expect to find him anyway, you said so yourself. Just do a search and prove it. You owe it to yourself and to little Freddie. C'mon, Carly-girl, you know you're dying to know if he's really out there and waiting for the love of his life to return."

"Psh! Love of his life. That's a laugh. Like he'd even remember me. I'm sure he's moved on by now, probably hooked up with some NASA scientist or master computer hacker girl he met at college or something." Carly just rolled her eyes. "Remind me again how this went from a conversation about Jeremy getting fired to me looking up my old friends online."

"Fine. I'll look him up if you're too scared to do it. What's his last name, Freddie what?" The redhead was determined and Carly knew she wasn't going to win this one. Why did she always pick such headstrong friends.

"Benson. His name is Fredward Karl Benson, but this is silly." Carly continued to protest, crossing her arms. "There's no way you can just type a few keys and find out all about someone there is to know. I mean, I told you he's not the kind of person to post his life online. Unless you're some kind of super spy or the world's best detective, you'll never find him. I doubt if you'll even find his phone number."

"Bingo!" Rose exclaimed after less than ten seconds. "Here he is. At least I think this is the guy. Ooh, here's his profile picture. Shit girl, he _is_ a hottie. I can see why you shagged him."

Carly just rolled her eyes at her friend's crude expression. "There was no shagging. Wait, what's shagging mean again?"

"Freddie Benson, originally from Seattle, Washington, graduated from Ridgeway High four years ago. That's your class I believe." Rose lifted an eyebrow.

Carly nodded, she couldn't believe her friend actually was onto something.

"Right then, recent graduate of MIT, mother is one Marissa Benson. He enjoys fencing, computers, building model trains and Galaxy Wars. Friends online with another MIT guy named Allen Thompkins, a girl called Amanda Benson, must be a sister or something."

"Cousin." Carly corrected, remembering Freddie's weird relatives. "Amanda's his oddball cousin. What a spazz."

The girl continued reading. "Right, best friend is one Orenthal Reginald 'Gibby' Gibson, God what a name. What the hell kind of drugs was that dude's mother on? Engaged to Sam Puck . . . " Rose fell silent a few words too late.

"What?!" Carly did a spit take and ended up coughing and sputtering kookey kola all over Rose's kitchen table.

"Uh, you know I don't think this is him after all, better keep looking." Rose typed furiously at her keyboard, pretending to search elsewhere for anyone else that may have been Carly's Freddie. Of course, she knew this was the guy, but the last fact she mentioned was something she figured Carly definitely didn't want to hear.

"Wait. Go back a bit." Carly tried to grab at the computer but the English girl held fast. "That was him, I'm sure of it."

"Oh so now you're suddenly interested in looking him up. Let's make up our mind, shall we." Rose scolded.

"Pull up that other page." Carly demanded. "Rosie, that was him! I'm sure of it."

Her friend reluctantly scrolled back and opened Freddie's Splashface page. There it was, big and bold on the screen in front of them, complete with a picture of Sam and Freddie together showing off her engagement ring. And then there was that picture of them snuggling under the covers. Poor Carly's face flushed. Though she'd never admit it to her friend, for over three years she had been hoping to be able to reconnect with Freddie. To find a way to tell him he was a father, to see if they could make a go of being a couple so her son could have a father and they could all live happily ever after. Her hopes were dashed in less than two minutes flat.

"Sorry." Rose put her hand on Carly's shoulder. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have pushed you to look."

"No. No, it's fine. It was stupid of me to think that he'd be waiting for me. After all, him and Sam were so desperate for each other it was damn near pathetic. I just figured neither of them would ever have the stones to tell the other one how they truly felt." Carly jumped at the sound of little Freddie starting to fuss from the playpen he and Rose's son were napping in. "You know, if this is anybody's fault, it's my dad's. He's the one that convinced me that I should cut Freddie out of my life. I guess dad can be really happy because Freddie's never going to be with me, it's too late now. He's marring my best friend from high school."

"True. But you know, he'd still be engaged even if you hadn't seen it. So what's worse finding out now or after you've sat around and waited for him. Oh, right, sorry. That's what you have been doing." Rose said with a snarky heir.

Carly shot the English girl a stink eye and picked up her son. "Yep. Bu - but you know what. My dad is right, I'm doing just fine without him." She picked up her things and began to head for the door. "So I'll see you tomorrow morning for the bake sale, bright and early, then."

Rose nodded, she knew her friend was hurting. "Right. See you tomorrow, Carly. Call me if you need to talk."

"Psh! I'm fine!" Carly replied.

She kept a stiff upper lip as she walked to her car but by the time she had buckled her son into his seat and made her way around to the driver's door, she was in tears. She plopped herself onto the seat and rested her head on the steering wheel as the deep sobs came. "Oh, Freddie. If you only knew how much I want you to be here. I just wish you could know what you've done."

"Mama!" Little Freddie called from the back seat. "Donn Cwyy."

 **Poor Carly!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Gonna do a little flash forward now.**

Chapter 12

A year and a half later:

As Sam's wedding date drew closer, she and her sister spent a lot of their free time planning the perfect wedding. Or at least what Melanie thought of as perfect. Sam's idea of the perfect wedding was a lot simpler and involved a lot more pork products.

As for Freddie, it took attending Melanie's graduation ceremony, (Pam Puckett insisted that Sam, as well as Freddie, being Sam's boyfriend, attend), before he believed she existed. After college, Melanie moved back home to keep an eye on her mother until she could find a permanent job and ended up being a live in housekeeper for Pam.

"C'mon, Sam. Keep up, we still have two more stops before the bakery." Mel pleaded as the twins walked through the mall. Freddie was in tow, nearly fifty feet behind, carrying all their bags, looking like a pack mule.

"Gah! Can't we just skip the stupid florist and go right to the bakery. I'm starving!" Sam complained. "Hell, even Fredlumps is wearing out, we've been shopping for almost five hours, Mel."

"The florist comes first. They close at six. The we stop at the dress shop for your fitting before we hit the bakery. I don't want you having chocolate under your nails when you try on your dress. I've seen you eat and it's not pretty."

"I can save us a stop then. I've already been fitted." Sam thought she had one up on her sister. "Bakery here we come!"

"Yeah, an initial session where they took your measurements. This is the trial fitting, where they actually put the dress on you and see if it needs any modifications. Then there's one more fitting two weeks before the wedding to make sure everything is perfect."

"Can't YOU try on the damn dress then, we're identical in every way, Mels. Freddie and I can go get something to eat."

"SAM!" Melanie scolded.

"Remind me again why we didn't just elope." Sam whispered to Freddie. "All I can say is we'd better soon hit the food court or I'm gonna pass out."

"Alright, alright. We can make a quick stop at Pandora Express, but then we go straight to the florist." Mel conceded.

The three continued their shopping trip, minus Freddie at the dress shop of course. Melanie insisted that he couldn't see Sam in her dress until the wedding. Sam thought that particular superstition was jank but Freddie agreed with is future sister in law and waited in the car, glad to be off his feet.

Of course, there were other wedding preparations to make, one of which was sending out invitations. Sam had gotten Carly's address from Spencer and sent her an invitation to the wedding, even though she knew the odds of the brunette coming home for her big day would be very slim. But Carly was her best friend so she still wanted to invite her. It was Melanie's idea to send proper invitations to all her friends and relatives and even the few of Freddie's that she didn't deem as too weird. Sam was just as happy sending texts, but Melanie made sure everything was all prim and proper.

* * *

After a particularly harsh day of school, Carly came home, a fussy little boy in tow, to find a fancy envelope with a Seattle postmark and embossed with interlocking hearts (Melanie's idea) in her mailbox. A moment later, her dad came through the door, prompting her to quickly stash the envelope in her son's bag until she could be alone.

That evening, after tucking her son into bed, when she was safely out of her father's sight, she took the envelope out and opened it. There in black and white was the news - delivered right to her front door - that Carly had been dreading for over a year. Her son's father would be married to her best friend in just a few months.

At first she was angry, Freddie was her man, not Sam's. He was the father of her child. He was the guy who had a crush on her since middle school. The boy who risked his life to save hers when they were younger. The boy who promised her they could give it another try after he was healed up from his taco truck injuries. The boy she gave her innocence to.

But how could she be angry when her friends were happy. They were happy, right? She sat on her bed and sighed. "Why am I letting this get to me?" She said aloud to herself. "Was I really stupid enough to think he was going to just sit around and wait for me? But Sam? They went out before and it ended in disaster."

Another sigh. "Why do I feel like I could crawl into a hole and die?"

She laid back on her bed and read over the hand written note Sam had put inside.

 _Hey Carls,_

 _I guess if you're reading this you've got the news. You probably expected this, just like Mel and everyone else. But I still admit Freddie shocked me a little when he finally asked me to marry him. I didn't think he was ever going to get around to it. My mom said it was because he was getting his milk for free so he wasn't going to buy a cow. I kicked her in the shins for calling me a cow and then ran like hell. Hah! That was fun! Melanie was mad at Mom and I both for a week._

 _Now I know what you're thinking, how are these two together and not killing each other. Well the truth is we still argue but only about stupid chiz like what movie to go see or whether ranch dressing or blue cheese is better on buffalo wings, dumb stuff like that. By the way, blue cheese rocks! It's just somehow, over the years we've both changed and no matter how much we bicker we always make up before going to sleep at night. Sometimes twice (wink-wink)._

 _I guess the truth is I'm a little more normal and Freddie's loosened up a bit. Especially after we got our own place and moved away from Marissa's constant cleaning and disinfecting. Speaking of which, you know she actually accepts the idea of me marrying her little Freddie-bear. She started to act a bit differently around me when I started to take nursing classes at Seattle Community College. She even helped me get a job at St. Schneider's. Can you believe that?_

 _I don't know if Spencer told you but we got an apartment on the fourth floor of Bushwell over a year ago. It's not all that big or fancy, but the rent's cheap and it's good enough for the two of us. Spencer has been down and helped Freddie paint the living room, and fix up the kitchen a little. And yes, I did make sure we had an extra fire extinguisher on hand before we even left him in the door. There's even a spare bedroom where Freddie can put all his nubby chiz like model trains and Galaxy Wars junk. I never go in there so he can geek it up all he wants. See I've matured, the old me would have made him throw all that junk out._

 _Now I know you probably won't be able to come back for the wedding. You're probably knee deep in some fancy internship at a fashion magazine or something like you always wanted to do, but if you can make the trip, we'd love to have you here and there's even a bridesmaid spot open for you. And no, there will be no ugly, weird bridesmaids dresses, you can pick out anything you want to wear. Melanie is my maid of honor. I know weird right? But she's moved back home and staying with mom, trying to help get her dried out again. And, like Freddie, she's lightened up a bit, or maybe I can just overlook her frilly, girly side a little more than I could when we were kids._

 _Hey, if you ever want to talk call me, I've still got my old number or look us up on Chat-Face. Freddie's always on there one of his nerd friends from MIT or with his weird cousin Amanda. I'm so glad I refused to let her be in the wedding party. Anyway, I've got to go. Melanie's insisting we get these invitations in the mail first thing in the morning and it's already after midnight._

 _Love ya Cupcake! Sam_

Sam & Freddie's wedding date finally arrived and Melanie threw Sam a nice party the night before, complete with as many kinds of bacon as they could find. Freddie's bachelor party was arranged by Gibby and Spencer, so it was pretty mild as far as bachelor parties go. The guys sat around watching sci-fi movies and eating pizza and hot wings all evening.

Their wedding was uneventful, except for the intense argument between Freddie's mother and one of Sam's uncles who insisted he dated her in high school. Marissa, of course, denied knowing anyone who had ever been in jail, but he knew far too many details for her to be believed. He even insisted she go to their upcoming class reunion with him. She threatened him with a restraining order.

 **I just realized, I've never written a Seddie wedding scene.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Big time Seddie fluffiness ahead and someone meets a new relative.**

Chapter 13

The month after they were married, Sam and Freddie had been back from their honeymoon trip and were getting settled into their new roles as husband and wife. Actually, their roles were no different than they were before the wedding. Freddie worked days in the IT department at the school and took evening classes toward his master's degree while Sam was busy with her nursing career.

As much as she hated being away from him, Sam took the overnight shift in the E.R. as much as possible. It paid a little more and despite the typical overnight emergencies, it was more peaceful than the day shift. Sure, she was at work when Freddie was at home, but he was sleeping for the most part overnight, especially when he had a class that ran late and had to be at work early the next morning.

Sam was working late one night when she started feeling sick. 'Probably just from seeing that guy who wrecked his bicycle and had the tree limb sticking out of his thigh.' She thought to herself as she cleaned up her face after throwing up. The thing is, this was the third time in the last week she felt sick. She had seen all kinds of trauma and injuries in the hospital and had never been sick before this week. Now, every time she witnessed something too gory, she became queasy. Even smells bothered her, especially smells coming from the various sores on that one very overweight lady a few days ago.

It took a few more sessions of nausea, combined with a missing period before Sam finally broke down and bought a pregnancy test. She opened the package still thinking that it wasn't possible, but less than ten minutes later, she was proven wrong by a tiny, pink plus sign staring back at her. She knew this was a bit sooner than they had planned, but Freddie would be as ecstatic as she was to be a parent. They both wanted kids and maybe this was the fates' way of telling them they were ready.

"Hi, baby." She greeted him after he came through the door at five thirty that evening. She was sitting on the sofa polishing off a big bowl of pistachio pudding.

"Hey, sweetheart. I thought you were working a double shift today. You didn't get sick again did you? Maybe you should lay off the dairy if your stomach is feeling funny." He said, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Nah. I feel fine, I'm usually only queasy early in the day, but I did decide to call off work so I could have a long weekend. I haven't taken a personal day since before the wedding and I wanted to be here when you got home. I have a surprise for you." She stood and put her arms around his neck.

"That's really sweet of you, but I've got to work on a paper that's due on Monday. I really need to do some major research online." He snaked his arms around her waist.

Sam pulled back from him and looked disappointed.

"Bu-but, um, I can work on that later. I have all weekend after all. We can have some Seddie time if you want."

"Please stop saying that." Sam frowned. "You know I hate the word Seddie. It's almost as bad as the word for women's underwear."

"You mean pan . . . " He started but Sam put her hand over his mouth.

"If you say that word, I will kick your ass into next week, no matter how much I missed you." She smirked. In all actuality, she was too excited to be violent. "Why don't you go get freshened up and we'll head out for some dinner and then we can get home so you can study."

"I'm good to go now." He replied after dropping his laptop case onto the couch and peeling off his tie. "Where are you thinking? You in the mood for a nice steak or maybe some lasagna. I could go for just about anything."

"I was feeling a craving for ribs and a nice big pile of fries, but I really think you should go freshen up a little bit." She again suggested, shoving him toward the hallway.

Freddie sniffed at his left pit. "Um, I'm good, Sam. If we leave now, we can still make it before they run out of Carolina mesquite ribs. Those always go fast and I know how much you like those Last time we went there you even snuck back to the kitchen to make sure they were really out and not just hiding them from you."

"No, seriously. I can live with _any_ ribs today. Whatever they have will be great. Just go, and, um, fix your hair."

He reached up to his head. "My hair's fine, Sam. Since I started using that new mousse, I don't have to worry about it too much."

She quickly grabbed him into a kiss, running her hands through his hair. After a minute or so of kissing, she pulled away. "Your hair's a mess now, Freducchini, go on and fix it."

He couldn't figure out her game at first. "Here I thought you were trying to stir something else up. Seriously, why do you want me to go in the bathroom so bad?" Suddenly a thought hit him "Oh, God, tell me you did _not_ clog the toilet with a tampon or something. You know I can't handle clogged toilets. You should have just called a plumber."

"I swear the stupid toilet's fine. Just go, Fredbag!" She shoved him toward the hallway. "Fix your hair so I can go and get my barbeque on. Chop chop." She slapped his butt.

Freddie sighed. "Alright. I have to take a wazz anyway."

Sam watched him make his way back the hallway and as soon as the bathroom door was shut, she began to countdown. "In 5, 4, 3, 2."

Freddie came bursting out the hallway, the pregnancy test in his hand, his shirt tail un-tucked. "Sam!" He threw his arms around her. "Is it true? Is - is this really yours? Are we having a . . . "

"Yeah." She smiled as he kissed her. "True as the sunrise. And did you wash your hands after you took a leak?"

"I never got that far." He replied and kissed her again.

* * *

A few weeks later, in Italy, Carly had just put her son down for bed and the doorbell rang. She wasn't really expecting anyone, her dad was off on a training mission with a new aircraft, Rose was out of town with her boyfriend and no one else she knew was supposed to be stopping by.

She answered the door to see her dad's old friend and commander of the base where he worked standing on the front porch. "General Landry. What a surprise. I haven't seen you since forever. My dad's not here, but I - I guess you know that already."

"Hello, Carly." The general said quietly. Suddenly, she looked over his left shoulder to see another officer standing behind him, his insignia showing he was a member of the clergy.

"No." She began to tear up. "Oh, God, Hank, please tell me he's alright." The man grabbed her into a hug as she collapsed against his chest. The general was like an uncle to her and one of the only people on base that knew of her being a mother. "Please tell me he's not . . . "

The chaplain cleared his throat and spoke up from behind the general. "Miss Shay, may we come inside?"

The men explained that colonel Shay had been seriously injured in an accident involving the new airplane he was helping to test as it flew over the alps. He was alive, but had been air-lifted to a special hospital in Germany. The doctors had given him a slim chance of survival and requested that family be notified and brought to the hospital as soon as possible.

General Landry arranged for Carly and her son to fly to Germany that very evening. After she quickly gathered her necessities and packed a bag for her child, Carly woke the boy and was driven to the airport to catch the flight that would take her to her father's side.

"What about my brother? Did anyone tell Spencer?" Carly asked the chaplain as he took them to the air field.

"Yes. Officers have been in touch with Spencer. He's on his way as well. A flight will be leaving from a base in Alaska with Spencer on board in about an hour."

The flight from Italy to Germany was not too long and Carly arrived at her father's hospital room just after midnight. She held her son on her lap and tried to rest while she waited for her brother to arrive. The hum and rhythmic beeping of the machines, while at first irritating, came to be comforting to her. She could rest her eyes and be assured that her dad was still alive.

The occasional nurse stopping in to change IV bags or check the equipment would rouse her, but she would quickly fall back to sleep. It was just after sunrise when she was awakened by a hand on her shoulder. Her movement caused little Freddie to wake up and begin to move as well.

"Spencer?" Carly whispered as she looked up at the man who had raised her. He had a shorter haircut than the last time she saw him. His neat facial hair gave him the heir of an art teacher, which he was, having went back to college shortly after Carly moved to Europe.

He bent over to give her a hug. "Hey, little sis. Long time, no see."

"Wow. I can't believe you. You look so, uh, mature." She said to him.

"Um, yeah, you too. So who's the kid? Your new boyfriend or something?" He joked.

"Mommy. Is grandpa better now?" The child asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Mommy?" Spencer clasped his hand over his mouth. "Uh, Carls. Is there something you maybe forgot to tell me?"


	14. Chapter 14

_Previously: So who's the kid? Your new boyfriend or something?" He joked._

 _"Mommy. Is grandpa better now?" The child asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes._

 _"Mommy?" Spencer clasped his hand over his mouth. "Uh, Carls. Is there something you maybe forgot to tell me?"_

Chapter 14

"Yeee-aaah. Um, Spencer, meet your nephew. Sweetie, this is your uncle Spencer." Carly said simply as the little boy just smiled at his uncle and snuggled into his mother's chest.

"Carly when did this happen? I - I - I had no idea. I mean I didn't know you even had a boyfriend or anything." Spencer was so confused, he thought his head would explode.

"I don't." She replied quickly and then tried to change the subject. "So this one doctor was in really late last night, he said they're going to try some special procedure on dad today. They have to fly someone in from Japan or somewhere to do it."

"Well that's good." He suddenly remembered why he was there and looked at their father. "Geez, he looks so helpless. Do you think he can hear us?"

"They say his coma is pretty deep, but we should still talk to him. One nurse told me it's always best to talk to the person like they're still awake." She whispered.

"So, um, back to this little guy." Spencer ruffled his nephew's hair, the child swatted at his uncle's hand, obviously he didn't like that. "Who's his, um . . . "

Carly just gave him a 'drop it' look. "Hey, could you maybe sit with him for a few minutes, I could really use a cup of coffee. Do you want anything? I think I'm going to head down to those vending machines at the end of the hallway."

"Coffee sounds good. But you didn't answer me." Spencer looked at her seriously. He had his suspicions, given the boy's age and appearance. "Who is his _. . ._

Carly simply cut him by leaving the room just like she said she would without answering. "Coffee coming up, be right back."

Spencer, while silly and goofy as could be, was no idiot. He was a teacher after all and had even been admitted to law school at one point in his life. He looked at the little boy, now sitting in a chair beside him. His spiky brown hair and big brown eyes verified everything he was thinking: this was Freddie Benson's child.

"Man, he's gonna have a stroke." Spencer muttered to himself.

Carly re-entered the room, holding two cups of coffee and a juice box. She fixed the juice for the child after handing Spencer a cup. "I hope you still like extra sugar."

"You know it." He took a sip. "Could use some cream, though."

Carly knew her brother had already figured out her secret when he spoke.

"You know he's married to Sam, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, I - um, got an invitation." She replied. "But there's nothing between us. Never was, I guess. This all happened a long time ago."

"Well, obviously." He rolled his eyes. "He's what, four, five?"

"Almost five and a half." Carly replied. "He was born on new years day."

"And you've kept it to yourself for over five years? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Shhh!" Carly scolded, motioning toward the child, who had just fallen back asleep in a chair. "It was dad's idea, and can we please talk about this outside?" She whispered.

"So what's the little fellow's name?"

"Fredward Spencer Shay." She said proudly and pulled Spencer toward the hall.

"Aww. That's so sweet, you named him after me."

"Yeah, well I sure as hell wasn't going to name him after dad." She told him as soon as soon as the room door was closed. "You have no idea how I was treated when I found out I was pregnant. I might as well have been killed someone the way he acted with me."

Spencer just looked at her confused.

"The day I found out and I mean the same day I peed on the stick, Dad took my phone and my computer, everything. I was only allowed contact with you when he was in the room. I was sworn to never tell Freddie or Sam or anyone else. Heck, one time I almost left it slip when you and I were on video chat and he slammed the lid shut on the laptop so hard he broke the screen."

"But why? Why would Dad act like that?" He asked, having never seen that side of his father.

"Well, I suppose he was extremely disappointed in me, and you by extension. You always treated me like a princess and you sure as hell never deserved his snide comments. Honestly, you were more of a father to me than he ever was. And what really pissed me off is when he claimed I wouldn't have embarrassed him by sleeping with boys if you were a better guardian."

"You were sleeping with boys?" Spencer gasped and clamped his hand over his mouth again. "Carly!"

"Of course not, Spencer!" She slapped his shoulder. "It was one boy and just one time."

He nodded.

"You see, Dad wanted me to give him up for adoption the day he was born and he was afraid if anyone back home found out and it got back to Freddie that he would want me to keep the baby. He must have figured that Freddie and I would run off together or something if he got word of it. He kept saying that it was for my own good and that having a baby would ruin my future so the only thing to do was give him up. I don't think it was my future he was worried about as much as his, though."

"But I would have come and got you if he didn't want to deal with it. Couldn't you find a way to let me know?"

"It wasn't that simple. I was allowed to go to school and that's it. No friends, no going anywhere, no nothing. The day after I graduated high school he penned me up in the house and wouldn't let me go anywhere except the doctor's office. He even fired the cleaning lady so she wouldn't find out and tell any of his military friends about 'Steve Shay's knocked up, slut daughter', and yes, those were his exact words." She began to tear up. "I'm sorry, Spence, this is all just too much right now."

"My God, Carly. That's terrible. And you have nothing to be sorry about." Spencer put his arms around her as she began to cry. "I can't imagine Dad acting like that."

"Well, first you dropped out of law school, then I ended up pregnant at seventeen. I guess it was just too much for him to handle. We were both a huge disappointment and he lashed out because I was the closest target. I'm glad you weren't here to get the brunt of it."

"If he'd have just sent you back home, he wouldn't have had to deal with any of it. I'd have never judged you, Carly. I might have had some strong words for Freddie, but I'd have stood by you and I know he would have too."

"An-and I had to sneak around to do it but I tried to write Freddie. I suppose he never got the letter or maybe he did and just didn't care because I never heard back from him. I told him he was a father and everything. Maybe he was just so hung up on being with Sam that he couldn't even bother to write back."

"No, Carly, I'm sure he didn't know. Ol' Freddo and I have spent a lot of time together the last few years. Did I tell you they moved into 4-G? Anyway, the point is he hasn't acted funny or anything. God, I even gave Sam away at their wedding. No, I'm sure if either of them knew anything things would have been way different. You know how nutty his mom is, she probably threw the letter away 'cause she was afraid it had tick eggs in it or some weird foreign spores or something."

"I had thought of that too. I was wishing I had his address at college rather than send the letter to his mom's but I didn't. Anyway, dad finally got over all his shit and quit pushing me to give up my son after I put my foot down and raised hell when I was in the hospital. I guess maybe he started to realize all the stuff he missed out on with us: first steps, first words and all. He even took Freddie to a soccer game the other week and I'm pretty sure dad hates soccer." She chuckled through her tears. "But Freddie wanted to see a game. It's like the only sport he cares about."

Spencer held her close and rubbed her back.

"It's been so hard, Spencer. Doing this all alone. For the longest time after Freddie was born, all I could think of was how bad I hated Dad and how I wanted to get away from him and find Freddie an - and never talk Dad again, but now I've spent the last day praying for him to get better." She sobbed

"It's over now, Carls. I'll make it better." Was all he said as she sobbed into his chest. "You don't have to worry any more. You're coming back to Seattle with me no matter what. You don't have to do this alone any more."

"You have to promise me one thing." She sniffed.

"I know, you don't want me to say anything to Freddie or Sam." Spencer already knew what she was going to say.

"I need to tell them myself and I don't want to simply drop it on them. Just please give me some time to figure things out. I know you suck at keeping secrets but you have to this time, please."

"Well, isn't it going to be kind of hard hiding a kid from them when we all live in the same building. Besides, Freddie's kinda my best bud now and Sam comes by a couple of times a week to talk to Sasha. Just between us, I asked her to help teach Sasha how to cook. Man, when we met she couldn't boil a cup of water without burning it."

"Just let me do it myself, alright?"

 **We all knew Spencer would be forgiving about the situation, but will he be able to keep it to himself.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Nearly a week later, Col. Shay had miraculously come out of his coma but was still under constant medical care. His condition was such that he would be forced to retire. The air force was preparing to transfer him to a hospital back in Washington state to take care of him and Carly and Spencer had returned to their Italian home to supervise packing up the family's belongings for the move back to the states.

"So, I guess that's it." Carly said as Spencer taped shut the last of the boxes. "Now all we have to do is wait for the airmen to come and pick up this chiz and we can get to the airport."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Hank arranged for us to take a military flight back home. Little Freddie will get to be on a real air force plane. Won't that be fun, little guy?" Spencer talked to the child.

"Cool." The kid replied.

"So where are you having them take your stuff? You know you're always welcome at my place."

"I guess that's what we'll have to do for now, Spence. Bu-but I'm going to start looking for my own place as soon as I get a job. I can't sponge off you forever."

"Alright, but you know I have plenty of room and it would be nice to spend some time with my nephew, and my baby sister. And I can't wait for you to meet Sasha."

"Yeah, but it'll be too weird for me living at Bushwell with them on the fourth floor." More than anything she knew it would be too hard to hide the child from her old friends, but she wasn't telling Spencer that.

"Well, you can figure all that out later. For now, we'll have them take your boxes to the apartment and dad's stuff can just go into my storage unit. I actually managed to clean it out last fall. Man, I found junk in there I forgot all about."

"Really? I'm so impressed. Look at you, all grown up cleaning out your storage unit like a mature adult." Carly poked him in the ribs with her index fingers causing him to wince.

"Well, truth is, Sasha made me do it. She wanted a place to put some of the stuff from her old place when she moved in."

"Wait, Sasha lives at your place?" She frowned. "You never mentioned that."

"Yeah, guess I'm not the only one to forget important details. But, we've been dating for a few years and it was the next step. You know, I think she might even be the one I want to marry. And she's been talking about it."

Carly just fell silent. She couldn't picture her brother married and she was suddenly overcome by the realization that the man she really wanted to be with was already married to their best friend.

* * *

It was in the lobby of the Bushwell building, three days later that Carly came face to face with two people she hadn't seen or spoken to in, literally, years.

Spencer was in the apartment rearranging the boxes that the delivery men had just dropped off and his nephew was helping him or at least attempting to. Carly had made a quick trip to the grocery store for a few things so she could work on dinner for the family. She was heading back with her purchases, crossing the lobby toward Spencer's private elevator when Sam and Freddie stepped off the main one.

"Carrr-leeey!" Sam exclaimed at the sight of her long lost friend. "Is it really you?"

Before the brunette knew it she was being picked up into the biggest hug she'd had in years.

"Sam! How have you been?" Carly tried to feign excitement, but inside she was trembling at the sight of the couple.

"My God, girl. Look at you." Sam screeched, more girly than Carly had ever heard her. "You're grown up. And you've filled out, too." Sam nudged her with her elbow in reference to Carly's obviously larger chest. "I told you they'd grow some day." She whispered.

'Yeah, well having a baby makes 'em bigger.' Carly thought to herself. 'Speaking of which. Gheesh, Sam, check you out. You didn't have a kid did you?' Sam's pregnancy hormones had already begun making her body change and the first change was to her bust.

Freddie just stood back and left the girls have their reunion. Carly made no effort to make eye contact with him but kept talking to Sam.

"How long have you been in town?" Sam asked as Carly tried to form words.

"I, um got in yesterday. I don't know if you heard, but my dad got hurt and had to retire. He's in a VA hospital over in Tacoma, I'm just crashing at Spencer's until I can find a place of my own."

"Sweet!" Sam exclaimed. "Hey, you know what, we live in 4-G, you should stop down. We can all hang out. God, I can't believe you're back in Seattle." Sam hugged her again. "I thought you'd have some fancy writing job by now in New York or Paris or something and we'd never see you again."

"Um, no. Actually, I'm a physical therapist. The, uh, writing thing, it - it didn't work out. I need to start looking for a job if I'm going to be in Seattle, too."

"Really? I work at St. Schneider's." Sam said proudly. "Marissa kind of took me under her wing, got me set up with a nursing job in the ER. We have a whole therapy and rehab department, too. I can ask around and see if anything's open over there. That would be so cool, we could have lunch breaks together and stuff."

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that." Carly exclaimed. "Really, I don't know if I'm going to even be in Seattle that long."

"Seriously? How could you think about living anywhere else?" Sam asked as Carly was trying to inch away. "You can't run off, you just got home."

"Well, um, it's just, I don't know what's going on with my dad. You know, the doctors might want to send him to another hospital or something in who knows where. Hey, I've gotta get up to Spencer's and start dinner. But we should seriously get together." Carly hoped this would appease Sam.

"Oh, yeah. I can't wait. So how about after dinner we get together and get caught up, you wanna come down after you guys eat?"

"Um, I - I don't know. Uh, Spencer said something about going out somewhere with Sasha." Carly was trying to weasel out of the invitation without making it obvious. She also knew that Spencer and Sasha had plans and there would be no one to keep an eye on her son. Letting her friends know she was a single mother was not something she was ready for yet. Especially since Freddie was the boy's father.

"Great! We'll see you about 7 then?" Sam hugged her again. "I can't wait. Say hey to Spence and Sasha for us."

Carly boarded the elevator and sighed loudly. "Now how am I gonna get out of this one?" She asked herself.

Later that evening, Sam was rushing around getting their apartment ship-shape for Carly's visit. Freddie was in his study wrapping up an essay for a class and trying to stay out of her way.

"Yo, Freddison. you wanna come help me move this couch, I don't think I should be tugging it around by myself, you know, in my condition."

"What are you doing with the couch?" Freddie asked as he emerged from his sanctuary. "Sam, for God's sake, you've rearranged the whole stinkin' room."

"Well, it wasn't really set up right for conversation. Now, your chair is facing the couch and Carly and I can sit there."

"Um, but I can't even see the TV, the book shelf is in the way."

"So. You can move your stupid chair back when you want to watch TV. For now, we need to have more seating. Do you think if we moved that rocker more into the corner, we could maybe get a small two-seat couch for along that wall under the windows? I'll bet I could find something really cool down at that thrift shop by the hospital."

Freddie held his breath before speaking and getting himself in trouble. "So where did you want the sofa, hun?"

After rearranging their furniture two more times and Sam's baking cookies, Freddie came to realize that maybe Carly wasn't going to show up after all. "Sam, it's almost eight thirty, maybe Carly can't make it."

"Oh, it's not that late. Spencer probably set some art project on fire or got his hand stuck in a jar or something. I'm sure she'll be down in a few minutes."

More than ninety minutes later, Sam finally conceded that Carly had stood them up. "Man, this sucks. I was so jazzed up about telling Carly our news. We haven't old anyone other than our moms and Melanie." Sam devoured yet another of her peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. "I just hope everything's alright with her dad and all. Maybe I should call her again."

Freddie tried to be the voice of reason. "Baby, you called her four times in the last half hour. If she is having problems maybe she can't answer the phone right now."

Sam immediately got up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Freddie asked. He was in his sweats and an old t-shirt ready to watch some TV.

"Carly's. If she needs a friend right now, I need to be there for her. And do you have to sit around looking so sloppy. You look like one of my mom's trashy old loser boyfriends. All you need is a mullet and a pack of cigarettes rolled up in your sleeve."

"It's almost ten, Sam. Don't you think she might be in bed."

"Thanks for the update, Cronos - master of all time." She snipped as she pulled on her second shoe. "I know how to read a goddamn clock. And since when does anybody you know go to bed at ten on a Saturday night, besides maybe your grandma?" She was clearly annoyed and her temper was running short.

"Sam, sweetheart, listen to reason. Carly just moved in from Europe. She's probably still adjusting to our time plus she's got to be exhausted from helping with her dad and moving and everything else. Plus I'm sure she's getting acquainted with Sasha, you know how she goes on and talks about her career constantly. Now, let's just give her some space and if you don't hear back from her we can go up in the morning to make sure everybody's OK."

"I guess you're right." Sam slipped off her shoes. "I'm just so anxious to see her again and talk to her. I really want to hear all about what she's been doing for the last six years. I mean, it's been so long since we've even talked."

"I know." Freddie instinctively put his arms around her and rubbed at her back. "C'mon, let's make some popcorn and watch Toilet Wars, I dvr'd it for you earlier when you were baking."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The following morning, by eight thirty, Sam and Freddie were at Carly's door. Conveniently, they had just missed Spencer and Sasha, who had taken little Freddie to the park for some fresh air. Carly opened the door to find her two friends. "Oh, hey guys." She looked a little frazzled.

"Everything OK, Carls." Sam asked. "I've been worried about you."

"Um, yeah, Uh, I guess. I'm just having a little issue with the time difference that's all." The truth was, Carly was adjusting fine, but her son was unable to sleep past 3 in the morning. Having a kindergartener awake hours before daybreak was not Carly's idea of a good way to spend her Sunday.

"I sort of thought maybe that was giving you trouble." Sam chucked.

"Ahem, who thought of the time difference." Freddie put his arm on Sam's shoulders.

"Well, Freddie thought maybe you had to turn in early last evening. When it got to be, like, ten, we knew you weren't going to be stopping by. I just got a little worried that maybe something happened with your dad that's all."

"Sorry, Sam. I guess I should have texted or something."

"Eh, it's OK. Maybe we could go and grab some brunch or something after church." Sam suggested. "We have some big news."

"Uh, yeah. I - I guess." Carly just hoped Spencer didn't have any plans so he could watch his nephew. It was obvious there was no avoiding Sam Benson, so she'd might as well spend some time with her and get it over with. Maybe somewhere along the line she could figure out a way to tell her old friend about her son. One thing was certain, there would be NO mention of who his father was. That was one conversation she would avoid as long as possible.

Later that day, Sam and Freddie sat in the smoothie shop waiting for their friend. Carly was running a little behind because her son managed to get into his uncle's art supplies and took the liberty of repainting the refrigerator door. Spencer was overjoyed at the boy's artistic talents. Carly was was more worried about the volume of paint he got in his hair and all over his clothes.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. Benson." Carly greeted them, walking up to their table, obviously very nervous.

"Hey, Carls." Sam replied. "Hope you don't mind but we already ordered. I was so hungry my stomach thought my throat was cut."

"Yeah, sure. I'll just go give T Bo my order. Be right back." Carly slipped over to the counter, eager to get away.

"See, I told you we should have waited. Now she feels all awkward." Freddie hissed so Carly wouldn't hear.

"I'm eating for two. Remember. Now zip it and hand me the ketchup. Too bad he doesn't have tartar sauce for on the fries. Oh, or Italian dressing. Now that would be epic."

Freddie just cringed at his wife's new, and very strange food combinations. "You should suggest it."

Carly placed her order and returned to her seat with a drink to visit her old friends. "So, what's been up with you guys? Other than the obvious."

"How'd you know?" Sam choked on her food.

"Well, you did send me an invitation, goofy"

"Oh! Oh the marriage thing. Yeah, it's all great. We had a cool trip to Las Vegas, courtesy of my uncle. He had a ton of comps coming from the one hotel and since he's technically not allowed in the state any more, he gave 'em to us. Man, we had room service and everything. And those all you can eat buffets, you can't even imagine it."

"And Spencer probably told you, but he's been helping me get our apartment fixed up. We painted and then he found this really neat dining room set down at the one second hand store. We refinished it and it looks great." Freddie added, not really making eye contact.

"Yes, I'm sure the girl we haven't seen for over five years wants to hear how much of a Mr. Handy-man you've become." Sam huffed. "Why don't we talk about something a little more exciting."

"I was getting to that. I was just going to say that I need to ask Spencer about re-doing the spare bedroom."

"What my nubby hubby is getting at, is that . . . we're going to need to decorate a nursery. We're having a baby."

Carly's jaw dropped. How could she possibly tell them about being a mother like she planned, after hearing this news. She was planning on breaching the subject, but not revealing too many details. Now it would make her look like she was jealous of Sam being pregnant. The only thing that snapped her out of her trance was the waitress sitting food down on the table.

"We weren't really planning on it this soon, but I guess someone's little swimmers had other plans, right Freddad?" Sam poked Freddie's ribs with her elbow. "I'm about six weeks right now, so I guess he'll be due after the holidays sometime."

"What the doctor told us was that SHE will be due on January 8th." Freddie responded.

"She?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "First off it's too soon for the doctors to tell what the gender is, and second, I know I'm having a boy. I can feel it."

"You and your feelings. Honestly, Sam. You're a nurse, you should know there's no way to 'feel' a baby's gender, it's done with either a very scientific blood DNA test or with a sonogram."

"Psh. You and your scientific logic. I know I'm having a boy. And if you don't quit arguing with me, I'm going to name him after my favorite uncle instead of you. Now settle down or there won't be a little Freddie living in our house."

"I still say it'll be a little Sam." He murmured under his breath.

As the two argued, Carly sat there staring at them. There already was a little Freddie. Now there's going to be another one. Maybe he was right and there'll be a little Sam. Oh, God. What if sixteen years from now little her Freddie hooked up with their little Sam. She cringed.

"Yo, Carls. Say something." Sam snapped her fingers in front of the brunette's face. "I hope you're not going to space out like that too much, because we might have to ask you to baby sit."

Carly began to shake her head with wide eyes. This was beginning to be too much to process.

Not knowing what her problem was, Sam tried to make a joke out of it. "Oh, come on. Baby sitting isn't that bad. Poopy diapers aside. Well, and the spitup. And the incessant drooling when they grow teeth." Sam shrugged. "OK, so puppies are easier, but . . . "

"I'm well aware of what babies are capable of." Carly suddenly huffed. "Listen, you guys. I hate to run, but I just remembered, there's somewhere I need to be. To, um, do something. Uh, I'll call you later, Sam." She plopped down a couple of singles for the tip and got up, leaving her untouched food.

"Well, that went well." Sam sighed after their friend left. "Way to scare off our best babysitting prospect, Frednuts."

"Me? I'm not the one that started talking about drool and spitup and poopy diapers."

"No, but you hardly said a decent word to her and you haven't made eye contact with her at all. I mean, I know you feel all weird because you two did the humpty dance, but come on. That was years ago, we were all in high school and its not like you knocked her up or anything." Sam surely didn't realize how far off-base she really was.

* * *

The next day, Sam stopped by Spencer's. Mainly because she wanted to see Carly, but she also felt she should tell Spencer about her and Freddie's situation personally. After all, he was like a big brother to her and Freddie both and letting him hear it from another person didn't seem right.

"Hey, Sam. Come on in." Spencer answered the door. He still had trouble getting used to her knocking. "Where's your other half."

"He's down at the Pear store. Some kind of new wi-fi thingy or some chiz he's been busting his butt to buy just came in today. I don't know, I'll just be glad when he gets it and can actually play with the dang thing so he quits talking about it."

"Same ol' Freddie." He motioned to the sofa for them to sit down.

"So, there's something I kind of owe you an explanation on. Freddie and I, we're . . . man, I feel bad for not telling you about this when we told our mothers cause you're like family, too. But we, um, we're gonna have a baby. I'm really sorry we didn't say something sooner. I just couldn't find a way to bring it up. I was really hoping Freddie would just sort of say something, you know let it slip somehow."

Spencer grabbed Sam into a huge hug. "Carly told me. Congrats, kiddo."

"So, you're not mad that I didn't tell you right away."

"Nah. I get it. You probably wanted to tell Carly yourself and everybody knows I can't keep a secret." Although he was keeping a huge one at his little sister's request.

"Speaking of Carly, where is she? She had to leave in a hurry yesterday and I just wanted to make sure things aren't gonna be weird with all of us now." She didn't want to go into details about why things would be weird, she had no idea Spencer was already aware of his sister and Freddie's hookup.

"She's out on a job interview."

Sasha came through the door with little Freddie. They had just been to the store to get some groceries for dinner. "Uncle Spencer, Uncle Spencer. You'll never guess what we saw." The child paid no attention to the other person sitting on the opposite end of the couch from his uncle and hopped onto Spencer's lap.

"A beavecoon!" Spencer exclaimed like he'd just won the lottery. "Please tell me you saw a beavecoon."

Sam rolled her eyes.

"No! There was a dinosaur at the grocery store."

"A real, live dinosaur?" Spencer played along, he knew the kid was beyond excited. "Whoa."

"Yep." The boy jumped up and down with excitement.

After the kid ran off to play, Spencer shook his head. "Kids. They get a kick out of the weirdest things."

"Like beavecoons?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"They! Are! Real!" Spencer crossed his arms over his chest.

Sam was none the wiser as to whose kid he really was. She simply thought he was Sasha's nephew and just calling Spencer 'Uncle'.

"Well, I guess I'd better get back to the apartment. Freddie's probably back by now with his new nerd toy. Tell Carls I stopped, okay?"

"Will do." Spencer gave her a two-thumbs-up, proud of himself for not spilling Carly's secret to her friend. "Congrats again, kiddo."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Carly returned to Spencer's apartment a short while later with a long face. She didn't have a good feeling about the interview and was starting to think she may have to take Sam up on the St. Schneider's offer. Either that, or just completely leave town.

"So how long are you going to keep him a secret from your friends?" Her brother asked nonchalantly.

"What?" Carly gasped. "I'm not keeping him a secret. Not specifically. I mean, I know I need to tell them, it's just I'm afraid they'll both totally wig out. This whole thing is just so fucked up."

"Carly!" Spencer gasped at her language.

"Sorry. But they just told me they were having a kid. Was I supposed to all like, 'Oh, I'm so glad you guys are happily married and having a baby. But I already had a baby five years ago. And it's Freddie's'. Seriously, Spence, this is so far beyond effed up it's not funny."

"So you're saying you're not purposely avoiding your friends and you're definitely not putting off telling them that the reason you didn't have any contact with them the last five plus years is because you got pregnant to Freddie."

"Alright so maybe I'm avoiding it a little bit. But I'm afraid it'll ruin everything. Like I said, this is totally effed up. I think I just need to go somewhere else and start over. Maybe Yakima."

Spencer sighed. "Carly. I might not be the smartest guy in the world. Hell, I don't even know how I managed to get through college and get a teaching license, but I do know that the longer you keep this a secret, the worse it'll be when they finally find out. And they will find out. Remember that time Sam kissed Freddie when you guys were in, like, ninth grade or something and then it finally came out and how pissed you were?"

Carly nodded.

"Well, don't you think this is about ten thousand times more of a big deal? Not only are you a mother but he's Freddie's son."

* * *

Meanwhile, Sam had grabbed some groceries, returned to her and Freddie's apartment and begun to consider ways she could reconnect with Carly. She thought maybe it would be best to not include Freddie because of the weird vibe he always seemed to generate around their old friend. And Carly's vibe was certainly no better.

Freddie was already busy installing the new device inside his laptop on their kitchen table. "Whatcha thinking about, babe?" He asked, seeing how deep in thought she was. "Baby stuff? Why don't you call Mels and ask her to go baby shopping with you? You guys haven't had one of your special 'twin days' in months."

"I just went up to Carly's before I went to the store. She wasn't home, so I didn't get to talk to her. You know, I was thinking maybe it would be best if I just met up with Carls for some girl time. Then once her and I get to know each other again, we can maybe find a way for you two to not be all goofy around each other."

Freddie sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm really sorry if I've been spazzing out. It's just kinda strange that's all. I know it's not like me and Carly were a couple and went through a bad break up or anything, it's just that I get this weird feeling when I'm around her, I don't really know how to explain it, it's just weird."

"Well, you are the expert in that department. I guess I get what you're saying. Maybe I'll call her after bit and see if she wants to go to the mall or something. I'll bet she'll jump at the chance to help me do some baby shopping. I don't know if I could handle my sister and a mall on the same day right now with these hormones flowing. By the way, sorry I've been such a bee-yotch."

Freddie nodded and continued to reassemble his computer. "I understand. Just try to take it easy, OK? I don't think it's good for you to be all stressed."

"Oh hey, did you meet Sasha's nephew yet?" Sam asked, after grabbing a bottle of soda from the fridge. "Cute kid."

"Hmmh." He responded. "I could have sworn Spencer told me one time that Sasha was an only child."

* * *

Sam and Carly decided to get together a couple of days later for a shopping trip. The two were making their way through the mall and had already been to Baby Central and Mommies R Us and were heading for Kiddie Depot.

"Thanks for coming along, Carls. I knew when I had a shopping trip like this to make, I needed some help and Fredbag would be worthless. It was either you or Melanie and, honestly, after the production she made out of wedding planning, I just know she'd turn baby shopping into a federal case, too."

"Yeah, I needed this, too Sam. I really haven't had much chance to do a lot of shopping lately. I guess I just needed a little distraction. So thanks for inviting me. Plus it's nice to spend some time with my BFF." Carly laughed and hugged Sam sideways with one arm.

"Man, I'm getting soft. I swear we've hugged more the last week or so than I have in my life. Damn pregnancy hormones."

"Well then, all we need yet today is to find some more blankets and that thing that individually wraps each diaper you were telling me about on the way over here and we're all set to hit the food court. Mama has a craving for some stromboli. How did you hear about the diaper disposer anyway?"

"Hey, I just realized, now when you call yourself mama, it fits." Carly didn't answer the question.

A short while later the two women were sitting at a small table in the food court. "This has really been fun, Sam. Kind of like old times."

"Yeah, except we didn't spend half the afternoon at glitter gloss and we got to park in the sweet expectant mother parking spot right by the door. I'll bet my mom has tried to stuff a pillow under her shirt and say she was pregnant so she could park there. Did I tell you she bought a walker at a garage sale for six bucks just so she could use the handicap spot?"

Carly laughed at the thought of Pam Puckett hobbling along with a walker.

"But who knew being preggers would come with such sweet benefits. Almost makes you want to run out and get knocked up doesn't it, Carls." Sam smirked.

Carly frowned at the thought. "You won't say that when the labor starts. Speaking of which, there's something I needed to talk to you about. Um . . . " Sam's ringing phone interrupted Carly as she was about to make a confession.

"Hold that thought, Carls. It's Freddie. I swear if he has to work late again, I'm going down there to give his boss a piece of my mind. Hey, Nub." she answered.

After a few minutes, she hung up. "He's lucky. Or should I say his boss is lucky. He was asking me what I wanted for dinner. Since he had to work late all last week, he's planning on heading home early and he's even making dinner."

"Freddie cooks?" Carly was shocked. "When did he learn to do that?"

"Before we got married, but he only cooks when he wants something so he probably wants to watch that all day Galaxy Wars marathon Sunday. I guess we'd better get going, I still need to pick up some dry cleaning. I don't want to miss Freddie's special five meat meatballs."

"You just ate a huge stromboli. You're still hungry?"

"I'm eating for two, remember? The baby can have the stromboli and I'll take the meatballs. So what was it you wanted to tell me a bit ago?"

"Oh, uh, nothing - nothing special. C'mon, let's get this stuff and you home." The brunette chickened out of telling Sam about her son. "Don't want to miss those meatballs." She said all nervous.

Sensing Carly's walls go up, Sam immediately thought of the one subject she figured Carly might be going to cop to. "I know it seems like Freddie has been all freaked out lately. I think he's just all weird because of when you guys, uh, you know. Did it. Like, before you left."

"Wha?" Carly coughed as she picked up a couple of Sam's bags, trying to act like she didn't know what her friend was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"He told me, Carls. How you two hooked up the day you left for Italy. We pretty much tell each other everything. Or at least he does. Basically we don't keep secrets from each other."

"Oh." For a second, Carly thought that Freddie might have actually gotten her letter and told Sam about little Freddie. "So what exactly did he tell you?" She tried feeling out the situation to be sure.

"That you guys made the beast with two backs. And that it was his first time. Pretty cut and dried."

"It - it was mine, too." Carly acted ashamed of herself, still worried about how much Sam, and Freddie for that matter, knew. "Is that all he said?"

"Nothing much else to say." Sam shrugged. "I didn't really need all the gory details. For what it's worth, you don't have to feel all weird because of it. I mean, gheesh we were all just hormonal teenagers, two of us were bound to hook up sometime. It just happened to be you two. Hey wouldn't it have been some chiz if it was you and me instead? Not that I'm into girls or anything but Mel told me about what she called 'experimenting' in college. Hey, who knows it might have been fun."

"Sam! Gaaawwwd!" Carly turned red.

Sam laughed at her reaction before turning serious. "Seriously, it'd really mean a lot to me if you guys could, somehow, maybe not act like it's a big deal and we can all be normal around each other again. You know, you are two of the three people on this earth that I love more than bacon, my husband and my life long bestie and it really sucks that we can't do stuff together.

Carly nodded. She knew Sam was right.

I've already talked to Freddie and told him to straighten up or there will be consequences. Not that I can shut him off in the bedroom, I swear these pregnancy hormones are something else. I mean, it's almost like I'm constantly hor . . . , er well, maybe you really don't need to hear about this."

'If only it were that simple.' Carly thought to herself. "I'll try, Sam. I promise I'll try." She knew that no matter how much Freddie loosened up, she would still feel awkward because of their son. Spencer was right, sooner or later this would have to come to a head. Yakima was looking better all the time.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The evening after her shopping trip with Carly, Sam was talking to her sister on the phone.

"So I'll bet you're excited that Carly is back in town." Mel was chipper as always.

"Oh, yeah. You know it. We hit the mall a while ago and did some baby shopping. It was really good to hang out with her just like we did when we were kids."

"Awww, why didn't you call me to go baby shopping, too. I could have taken a day off." Melanie was disappointed.

"Because I wanted some time to get caught up with Carly." Sam tried to beg off. "Even though we live in the same building and work at the same hospital, we really don't get to spend a lot of time together."

"You know, I saw Carly down town yesterday. She was with some little boy heading into Mall-Mart. I was shopping with mom and she was arguing with some old lady over the handicapped parking space. I was too busy trying to keep our dear mother from getting arrested for assaulting someone with a walker again to be able to talk with Carly though."

"That was probably Sasha's nephew. He must be staying with them or something. He was at Spencer's apartment the other day when I stopped by." Sam remembered the little, brown haired boy.

"I thought Sasha didn't have any brothers or sisters? I'm sure that's what she told me at your wedding reception."

"Yeah, that's what Freddie was saying, but I'm positive the kid called Spencer 'Uncle Spencer'. I mean, who else could he be? It's not like he's Carly's kid or anything. She doesn't even have a boyfriend, she told me so. You know Carly, always complaining about how she can't find a decent guy."

Melanie had the same luck with men as Carly. "Tell me about it. You got lucky, sis. You married the first guy you ever kissed."

"At least she didn't say anything about ending up as a lonely spinster in an apartment full of pathetic cats. It's sad, really. You know it sounds like she hasn't even had a date in a while the way she talks. Heck, the luck she has with guys she'd probably still be a virgin if ol' Frednub hadn't popped her cherry."

Melanie choked and coughed. "Wait, what! When? Freddie and Carly? You mean they . . . ? No! You can't be serious. Really?"

"Yep. Right before she left for Italy, apparently. And he's been acting like a real spazz about it, too. I love him, but I could kick his butt for being all weird around her. Gheesh, it was like six years ago. I keep telling him he should just do like the ice princess chick in that movie says and let it go."

"Well, did you ever think that maybe it really bothers him that his first time was with your best friend. I can't believe it doesn't bother you, like when they're around each other and you know that they did _that_. Gheesh, Sam it's a wonder you're not going through the roof over this. I know I would be."

"Nah." Sam shrugged. "I lost my virginity to another guy, he lost his to another girl. We're together now and will be forever, what's the big deal? I know he doesn't have any strings to Carly. Hell, I don't think he ever did, other than that goofy puppy love tweenage crush like ten years ago. I mean, they went out for, what, two days after the taco truck chiz but that certainly wasn't anything serious. Him and I went out after that, we broke up, got back together, you know the rest."

"Yeah but during that breakup he hooked up with your best friend."

"It was just a fling. One time. Like I said its not like they made any kind of commitments to one another. It's not like they were engaged or even dated, they just slept together, once."

"So you wouldn't have thought twice about going out with him again if you had know back then that he slept with Carly when it happened?"

"God, Mel! I don't see what the big deal is. Really, I could care less if they bumped uglies back in high school. It's not like I saved myself for him or anything. We're married now, we love each other and he's not thinking about her constantly. Heck, I think about her more than he does. Honestly, it's like he could care less that she's back from Italy."

* * *

Weeks passed and things began to get back to normal for the three old friends. They had all managed to get together a couple of times for coffee and the like. Freddie did his best to stop acting strange around Carly, even though he still had the feeling that something was just off with her. He did his best to ignore his gut. As Sam had said, what happened between them was years ago, they were just teenagers and it shouldn't bother him. Carly, herself still felt funny deep down inside toward him but she put up a good front for Sam's sake. She was painfully aware that the longer it went, the harder she found it to breech the subject of the child but she just ignored it and tried to act as normal as possible.

A bonus to the job at St. Schneider's was on-site child care. Sam never saw much of Carly at work because of them being in different wings of the hospital but on occasion they would run into each other in the parking lot or in the cafeteria. One day Sam noticed Carly in the parking lot. She was on break in the nurse's lounge and looked out the window when she saw Carly heading to her car from the day-care department with the little boy holding her hand.

Sam had read the policies for day care since becoming pregnant and she knew it was totally against the rules to bring a child there who did not belong to an employee. The facility was not to be used for nieces & nephews, friends' kids or neighbors, not even in an emergency. It wasn't like the Carly she knew to break the rules like that. But once again Sam blew off the possibility that he was Carly's kid.

The more she thought about it, the more she convinced herself Carly couldn't have a child. 'Nah, she would have said something.' She told herself 'The boy has to be Sasha's nephew. Besides, if he was Carly's kid, she would have had to get pregnant almost as soon as she got to Italy. The kid's gotta be around five or so. Not like she had any serious boyfriends before she moved. She even bragged about being a virgin not long before the move. And she's not the kind of girl to meet a guy and jump in the sack with him right away.' The possibility that her old friend got pregnant after her tryst with Freddie never entered Sam's mind.

* * *

A few weeks later, in the lobby of the building, Marissa Benson noticed the boy with Carly. As much as she hated Sam years earlier, the blonde grew on her and she _was_ family. Carly, however, was on Marissa's shit-list from the time Freddie got hit by the taco truck all those years ago. Marissa took great pride in knowing that Sam had bested Carly and won her son's heart. As usual, she was barely civil with the younger, dark haired woman.

"Carly." She simply greeted with a sneer like she sniffed a cat box as they boarded the common elevator.

"Hi. Mrs. B." Carly greeted back with a fake smile, not wanting to let on to the nurse that this child was her grandson.

"And who do we have here?" Marissa stooped slightly and spoke to the child. She always liked kids, despite her feelings toward Carly, she wanted to be nice to the little boy. 'Something familiar about that child' she said to herself after she straightened her back and gave Carly a false smile.

"Oh, uh, this . . . Um, this is . . . um, "Carly began to stumble and the shy boy hid behind his mother silently.

The elevator opened on the eighth floor and Spencer hopped in looking panicked, pulling on a jacket and pushing the lobby button immediately.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" Carly asked, happy to change the subject as she tried to leave the elevator before the doors closed.

"I'm heading to the hardware store for a bucket. Do _not_ go in the kitchen! And stay away from the other elevator!" He shouted as the others walked out of the lift and he frantically pressed the down button again.

"I don't even want to know." Carly mumbled to herself, quickly scurrying into their apartment and away from Mrs. Benson for fear of a barrage of questions.

* * *

Marissa spent some time pondering why the child in the elevator looked so familiar. She suddenly realized that he had a striking resemblance to her son about the time he started school. The boy looked to be about 5 or so, that would put his birth around the time Freddie was starting college, after Carly had moved away.

Surely, he wouldn't have cheated on Sam. But there was that horrible crush he always seemed to have on Carly years before and he really didn't make it official with Sam until after he left for his freshman year. Was it possible this was what she suspected? Somewhere pre-Sam, could Freddie have slept with Carly?

Meanwhile, the brunette and her son entered 8-C and the boy immediately went to his room, aka the old iCarly studio, to play. Carly busied herself with straightening up the living room, being careful to avoid the kitchen, as her brother had warned. It was not three minutes later that Mrs. Benson burst through the door, wide eyed and frazzled looking.

"Carly, I need to ask you something!" She ran up to the young lady, who was standing by the couch, and grabbed her by the shoulders without a proper greeting.

"Oh, uh, hello Mrs. Benson. What can I do for you?" She gulped and tried to play innocent, somehow realizing the older lady suspected something. He eyes darted around the room and she prayed for a black hole to open up and swallow her before Marissa shook her any harder.

"Is that boy my grandson?" Marissa screeched.

Carly's eyes widened as she tried to formulate an answer. A few unintelligible sounds came from her lips, but she couldn't speak fast enough.

"Is. That. Child. My. Grandson?" Marissa repeated slowly. "Tell me, now." She shook Carly's shoulders again. "For God's sake, Carly. Say Something!"

 **Crazy as she is, Mrs. B. isn't stupid! Carly's life is about to get a whole lot more dramatic!**


	19. Chapter 19

_Previously:_

 _"Is that boy my grandson?" Marissa screeched._

 _Carly's eyes widened as she tried to formulate an answer. A few unintelligible sounds came from her lips, but she couldn't speak fast enough._

 _"Is. That. Child. My. Grandson?" Marissa repeated slowly. "Tell me, now." She shook Carly's shoulders again. "For God's sake, Carly. Say Something!"_

Chapter 19

Carly hung her head, this was not something she could avoid any longer. "Yes." She uttered quietly.

"When?" Marissa left go of her victim and became more quiet. "You and Freddie haven't seen each other in years. He's been with Sam since his freshman year of college."

"Right before I moved away. The day I moved, in fact." The young lady sighed. "But you can't say anything to Freddie, please Mrs. Benson."

"Do you mean to tell me Freddie doesn't even know?" His mother asked more calmly. "That child is five years old and Freddie doesn't know he exists. Carly, I'm shocked at you."

"No."

"What about Samantha? Does she know? Is this something you girls are keeping from him? I swear, Carly . . . "

"No. Sam has no clue, either."

"So would you please tell me exactly how long you plan on keeping this from them?"

"I - I don't know." Carly began to tear up. "When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to tell him. But my dad insisted I couldn't tell anyone. Not Freddie, not Sam, not even my brother."

"That doesn't make any sense." Marissa was confused. "Why would your father do that?."

"He was just trying to save face. He didn't want to be the colonel with the pregnant teenage daughter. He wanted me to hide my pregnancy and give my baby away as soon as he was born. So he forbid me from telling anyone that it might get back to Freddie in case he would want me to keep him."

"I cannot believe what I'm hearing. You mean, your father wanted you to give away your baby. Well, at least he didn't force you to have an abortion."

"It's true. He took my phone and my computer. I swear, I wanted to tell, I - I tried to tell Freddie. I even sent him a letter the day the baby was born but he must have never got it."

Marissa suddenly remembered throwing a letter away some years ago, hoping that would end the correspondence with the annoying girl from across the hall. "Oh."

Carly was now flat out crying. "And now? I don't know how to even begin to tell him now. It was bad enough when I found out they were just getting married, But now that Sam's pregnant I don't know what to do."

"You have to tell him, Carly. Tell them I mean. The longer you wait, the harder it'll be when it finally comes out. And it will come out."

"But how can I?" Carly sobbed. "I just got my friends back, this will ruin everything. Freddie will hate me, Sam will never speak to me again. This will probably put stress on their marriage. They don't need this right now. Please, Mrs. Benson, you don't know how bad this will mess things up. I - I could just leave town and get out of their lives. I was seriously thinking about going to my grandfather's in Yakima and just, getting out of their lives for good."

"Look, Carly, Sam and Freddie love each other more than anything. This isn't going to ruin their relationship. But my Fredward has a right to know that he has a child. They both have a right to know. You need to come clean and tell them."

Carly said nothing, she simply stared at the floor.

"Either you tell him or I will." Marissa crossed her arms and gave her ultimatum. "Either way, I want to know my grandson and Freddie needs to know his child."

"Please don't say anything. Just give me a few days to figure all this out and break it to them. I swear I'll tell them, just give me some time."

Marissa nodded in agreement and turned to leave the apartment. "I'll give you till the weekend and then I'm telling him whether you like it or not."

* * *

Three days later, Friday arrived and Carly had formulated a plan. She sent her friends an invitation to a dinner get-together. It was supposed to be a great big reunion, but she had already told Spencer and Sasha about her plan and asked them to be prepared to take little Freddie and give her some space with her friends. She knew this was going to be the hardest thing she ever had to do and she was nearly sick to her stomach with nerves.

Sam and Freddie arrived shortly before six to find Spencer and Carly in the kitchen. Sasha soon came down the stairs with little Freddie behind her. Carly approached the bottom of the stairs and took the little boys hand. They walked over toward the couch where Sam and Freddie had taken a seat at Spencer's instruction before he and Sasha went back into the kitchen.

As much as she wanted to avoid this conversation, she couldn't any longer. There was only one way to do this, like ripping off a band-aid or getting a bikini wax, just grit her teeth and get it over with. Worst case scenario, they'd never talk to her again. Best case, they could all go back to normal. Honestly, she'd settle for anything in between.

Sam looked at the child somewhat confused as Carly sat on the chair nearest the sofa and he hopped onto her lap. "So, uh, you guys. There's something I think I need to tell you. I've been trying to avoid this and I can't any longer. So I'm just going to come out and say it."

Carly's conversation with Freddie's mother made her choices quite clear. All in all, Marissa and her brother were right, keeping this secret from them was not good for anyone. She needed to get things out in the open for everyone's sake, hers, Freddie's and the child's.

The room was silent for a few moments as she gathered her courage and swallowed hard. "There is something I should have told you guys earlier, but I didn't quite know how." She swallowed again and looked like she was about to faint. "Um, this is my son."

Sam's mouth dropped open and Freddie flushed slightly. Something deep down inside gave him a funny feeling. He looked at the boy and back to Carly. She wasn't looking anywhere but the wall behind Sam. Before he could utter a word, Sam spoke.

"Whoa. Y - you have a kid? So I take it this is something that happened after you moved. You're not together with , um, you know?" She was at least subtle around the boy. "His dad." She mouthed silently.

"Well, uh not exactly." Carly said quietly. "It's not . . . Um, it's just that . . . "

Freddie could tell the way the brunette was avoiding his gaze and her hesitations that something was amiss. He and Carly had finally gotten to the point where they could look each other in the eye the last week. Before he could stop himself, words came out of his mouth. "How old is he?"

He knew there was a remote possibility something unplanned happened when he and Carly were together. He certainly didn't know for sure, but he always suspected something went wrong with the condom the day they did it because it had nothing in it when he removed it. Call it a gut feeling, but he knew before Carly said another word that this was his son.

"Five." Carly squeaked.

The little boy spoke up. "And a half."

Sam leaned toward the child and stuck out her hand. "Well, nice to meet you, kiddo. You should have said something, Carls. No wonder you got all antsy when I started talking about babies the other week. Really, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's no big deal, no judgments here. So what's your name, little man?"

"Freddie." The boy replied simply with a familiar crooked smile.

This was the fact that finally pushed his father over the edge. Without saying a word, the older Freddie stood and quickly walked out the door. He couldn't believe his ears and he needed a familiar sanctuary so he headed straight for his mother's apartment.

"What's eating him?" Sam questioned before it suddenly dawned on her. "Oh." While she knew about Carly and Freddie's tryst, she never guessed this would be the result. Her face turned ashen as if the blood had simply stopped pumping.

Sensing the tension form in the room, Spencer took the boy by the hand. "Hey, Freddie, I just remembered I need to go down to the storage unit and look for something Grandpa asked me to take to him. How about you come along and give me a hand." The artist quickly ushered the boy from the apartment and Sasha retreated to the bedroom to give Carly and Sam some privacy.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Carly sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek. "I'm so sorry to drop this on you, especially in your condition. Bu - but I had to tell you guys. I wasn't actually planning on this, I was just going to leave Seattle and let you guys live your lives. B-but Marissa figured it out and told me if I didn't come clean she'd out me."

Sam barely heard a word and didn't fully comprehend what her friend was telling her. "Um, Carls. I think I better go check on Freddie." She stood up to leave before her emotions could get the best of her. "I just hope I can find him."

"Sam, wait." Carly grabbed her arm. "Don't go."

Sam shook herself free. "I need to go find Freddie." The blonde not only wanted to check on her husband, but needed to get away from her friend who had obviously been lying to her for some time.

"No, Sam. Please." Carly feared that if she left Sam leave, she'd never have the opportunity to explain herself and grabbed her tightly by the arm again.

Sam suddenly grew angry and lashed out, jerking away. "Why, Carly? Why didn't you say something earlier? You've had plenty of chances. Not that it would change things, but why did you think you could keep this to yourself? And you were planning on leaving? Hiding this boy from his dad? What right do you have to keep this from Freddie an - and me for that matter? What fuckin' right do you have to decide we're not worthy of knowing you have a kid? That Freddie's a - he's a father? Holy Christ, Carly!"

 **Sam is piiiiiissssed!**


	20. Chapter 20

_Previously:_

 _"I need to go find Freddie." The blonde not only wanted to check on her husband, but needed to get away from her friend who had obviously been lying to her for some time._

 _"No, Sam. Please." Carly feared that if she left Sam leave, she'd never have the opportunity to explain herself and grabbed her tightly by the arm again._

 _Sam suddenly grew angry and lashed out, jerking away. "Why, Carly? Why didn't you say something earlier? You've had plenty of chances. Not that it would change things, but why did you think you could keep this to yourself? And you were planning on leaving? Hiding this boy from his dad? What right do you have to keep this from Freddie an - and me for that matter? What fuckin' right do you have to decide we're not worthy of knowing you have a kid? That Freddie's a - he's a father? Holy Christ, Carly!"_

Chapter 20

Carly just let the tears flow silently as Sam continued to unload on her, "Did you give Freddie's feelings any thought at all? Hell no! Carly Shay never thinks about anyone but herself, just like always. Jesus, this is gotta be absolutely killing Freddie! You can be such an insensitive bitch without even trying hard, you know that!"

"Well, it's just, you were so excited for us to get together and we were having such a good time and I knew that this news would change everything and I didn't want it to end." Carly sobbed.

"Oh, you really think it was going to change things?" Sam threw her hands in the air. "No shit, Sherlock! But I mean, why didn't you say something back when you found out or even when you first had the baby. Why did you wait until we were married and I was pregnant. Are you really trying to say it just slipped your mind or is this just another way for you to try to one-up me like you always have since we were in fifth grade?"

Sam was on a roll and not ready to stop. "This is worse than high school! Back then it was always the same shit; Sam gets one date with a half decent looking guy, Carly has to go after a rich hunk. Sam finally gets an B on a project, Carly gets an A plus. When the hell is this ever going to end? Is life nothing but one big, goddamn competition to you and all you can ever think about is trying to find a way to top me?"

"No, Sam. I swear it's not like . . . "

"Oh, so you _weren't_ just going to wait until I was in full-blown labor and then sashay in and be all like 'I had Freddie's baby five years ago.' Was that it?"

"Oh, God, Sam. How could you think something like that? I'd never do that to you. You're like a sister to me."

"Psh. You could have fooled me, Shay! Ya know, Melanie is a lot of things: a priss, a tease and annoying as hell by times, but a liar isn't one of them." Sam hissed. "Listen, Carls, I - I just need some space and I really need to find my husband and make sure he's alright. I promise I'll talk to you later but I've gotta go."

"But what about our dinner?" Carly whined.

"Oh, I'll be back for the food, don't worry about that. Right now, I just need to make sure Freddie's alright. Unlike other people around here, I actually care about his feelings, I don't just pretend to."

* * *

Across the hall, Freddie had let himself into his mother's apartment and had taken a seat on the sofa. As he lowered his head to his hands to contemplate the situation he was in, his mother emerged from the hallway and noticed him sitting there.

"Freddie-bear, what's wrong?"

He lifted his head to look at his mother and the worried look on his face, combined with the information she was privy to earlier in the week, told her what was bothering him.

"I don't even know where to begin, Mom."

She took a seat beside her son to comfort him and let him speak.

"It's Carly. She - she has a kid." He drew in a deep breath. "An - and he's mine."

"I know, dear. I ran into Carly a few days ago and I saw him. He's the spitting image of you when you were his age. I made her confess and she told me everything."

"Well, that's not the worst part. The worst part is she never told me. I mean, Jesus, what kind of a girl just decides to keep that kind of information to herself. And poor Sam, she's gotta be devastated. Here she is, four months pregnant and this is the news she gets. Her husband impregnated their best friend when they were in high school. Oh my God, Sam! I've got to go back for Sam, I just walked off and left her there." He stood to go back to the Shay's.

Marissa took his arm and pulled him back down to the sofa. "I'm sure Samantha will be just fine. She's a strong girl after all. But what about you? How are you feeling?"

"Me?" He chuckled. "I'm just peachy, except for the part where I'm pissed as hell. Don't get me wrong, I'd really like to meet my son and I want to be part of his life now that I know he exists, but I swear I never will forgive Carly for this. She a horrible, manipulative girl that just used me for years. I can't believe anyone could treat someone they claim to be their friend like this. What did I ever see in her? I am so glad her and I never got into a serious relationship. You were right all those years, Mom. I'd have been better off if I was never friends with her."

"Now that's not really fair, Freddiekins. I don't think you know the whole picture."

"Not fair? Not fair? I'll tell you what's not fair. Her keeping this whole mess to herself and thinking she could just raise this kid alone and let me out of his life. Crissake, why wouldn't she have told me when she found out she was pregnant? Think of everything I missed. The ultrasounds, the checkups. His birth! His first word. His first step, first birthday. His first day of school. She's nothing but a selfish, spoiled little brat who doesn't care about anyone but herself. I don't know if I even want to be her friend any more. And honestly, I wouldn't blame Sam if she was mopping the floor with her right about now." Visions of Sam with big handfuls of brown hair, banging Carly's head off the floor as she straddled her like a pony came to his mind.

"There's something you should know before you crucify Carly too much more, honey. I went to see her father in the VA hospital the day before yesterday. You see, Carly told me why she didn't tell you about the pregnancy and to be perfectly honest, I really didn't believe any of it. It was so totally messed up that I had to hear it right from her father's mouth. And he confirmed every word."

"What the cheese are you talking about?"

"Her dad forced her keep the whole thing a secret, Freddie. He all but had her under house arrest because he was going to make her give away the baby so it didn't mess up her college plans or make his colleagues think he was a bad father because his teenage daughter wound up pregnant . He was afraid that if you found out, you'd talk her into keeping him."

"Well obviously she didn't give him up. So what changed?"

"He told me that as soon as he saw the baby, he began to change his mind. And when Carly flat out refused to go through with the adoption, he gave up on the idea."

"But five years? She's had five years to tell me, Mom. Maybe that cop-out made sense when she was pregnant but what was her excuse for the last five years?"

"Well, her father had her brainwashed that she couldn't tell you at first, obviously. Then as near as I can tell, she found out that you and Sam were together and was afraid that the news would ruin your relationship so she decided to keep it from you. You know that I have never cared for Carly, and her decisions may not have been the best, but even I have to admit that her intentions were good if you look at it from her point of view."

That was the second when Sam opened the apartment door and entered. After checking the fire escape to no avail, his mother's place was her second stop.

"Sammy!" He jumped up and put his arms around her. "I'm so sorry, baby. I swear to God, I never knew anything about any of this. You've got every right to kick my butt, you know that."

"It's alright, Freddie." Sam pulled him tight and laid her head on his chest. "I know it wasn't your idea to keep this in the closet. I'm not mad at you. really. I just don't know if I can forgive Carly for all this shit, though."

"I'll leave you two to talk." Marissa excused herself.

"No. Stay." Sam said quietly. "Please, Mother. I - I think Freddie may need you. We both need you."

Marissa smiled and sat down, happy that Sam thought so much of her. The three took a few minutes to discuss the situation and Marissa repeated everything she had just told Freddie to her daughter in law before excusing herself. Sam had heard the exact same story from Carly and this verified that the young woman wasn't lying.

"So are you OK, Sam?" Freddie asked his wife. "This tears me up, but I hate this for you most of all. Do you need to go home and lie down?"

"I'm fine, dude. And I guess maybe I can forgive her after what I just heard, but I'm still a little confused about the whole thing with Carly's dad. He must have been a complete douche bag with her. But more importantly, how are you feeling? This has got to be enough to drive you more insane than Nora Dershlitt."

"Honestly? I still feel like I could puke. And I don't know if anything will ever truly go back to the way it used to be with Carly. I think she needs to work to earn our forgiveness, but I really would like to go over and meet my son if you think that would be alright."

Sam just nodded and took his hand. "So, you want to come along and meet your grandson?" He asked his mother, who had went into the kitchen to finish her chores after telling her story.

"You kids go ahead, I think you should have some time to sort this all out with Carly before we all descend on her. And he should meet you before we confuse that poor boy any more. Maybe you could bring him by after while or tomorrow sometime once this all has a chance to sink in."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Freddie and Sam walked across the hall and knocked at Spencer's door. Carly opened the door and invited them back inside, still wiping the tears from her face. She was surprised, though relieved, to see them.

"I'm so glad to see you guys. Spencer just sent me a text. He took Freddie for some ice cream. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised to see you guys. I was afraid you'd never talk to me again."

"Hey, I told you I'd be back for the food." Sam smirked at her. "And we really need to sit down and clear some chiz up. Like what we're going to tell the kid. This is going to blow his poor little mind."

"I'd like to simply tell him the truth." Freddie began. "My mom told us all about what happened with your dad, Carly. She went to see him the other day and he admitted to her what a stub rag he was with you. No offense."

"Yeah. I always thought your dad was so cool, I can't believe how he treated you." Sam put her hand on Carly's knee. "It's not fair. You went and moved halfway around the world to be with him and wound up being treated like you had a disease. Why the hell didn't you just run away or something?"

Carly shrugged. "That's all behind us, now. Dad and I patched things up after he finally gave up on the idea of making me give up my baby. I just knew I could never have lived with myself if I gave him away."

"I'm so glad you didn't Carly." Freddie sighed. "You know I would have never asked you to do that, right?"

She nodded and continued talking to Freddie. "My friend even helped me find you online one time a couple of years ago but then I discovered you guys were getting married and I was afraid that it would eff everything up for your relationship if I came at you with all this. And the longer it went, the harder it was to find a way to say anything."

"I guess it was kind of like that whole first kiss thing only way more complicated." Freddie said with a chuckle.

"As long as you guys don't want to lynch me, the biggest problem we have is finding a way to make Freddie understand all this. He's asked about his dad more than once, usually after some other kid at school would say something to him about it. But all I ever told him was that his dad lived in America; heck I really didn't know what else to tell him. The older he gets, the harder it's been to keep it from coming up. Especially around his friends. Kids can be so tactless."

"Yeah, I remember how everyone always got on my case about where my dad was, why my dad left and all that. They didn't stop until fifth grade when I kicked Becky Johnson's ass one day for it." Sam said with a crooked grin. "Never heard another word about it again and it was the only time I ever got a warning from a principal for fighting and not a couple weeks in detention."

"I heard the same thing. And some of the stuff wasn't all that kind either." Freddie frowned. "You know, I'd really like to actually meet him. Freddie, that is, not your dad."

"I guess the first step is coming up with a way to know who we're talking about. This is going to get really confusing, having two Freddies around. So how about we call the boy Freddie and this one Fredwad?" Sam motioned to her husband with a smirk. "Or maybe Frednuts."

Carly shook her head. "I don't really think that's appropriate, Sam. Especially around a kindergartener. Maybe we can come up with something else? Hey, I know, how about something like Big Freddie and Little Freddie."

Sam snickered. "Nah, I can't say Little Freddie without thinking about other things, that's what I call his, um, uh, never mind."

"Sam!" Freddie hissed with a blush. "Carly doesn't need those kind of details."

"Agreed!." Carly quickly replied. "Hey, I know. How about Freddie can still be Freddie and little Freddie can be Junior. That's what my dad calls him sometimes. I don't know why."

"Eh, sounds kind of lame, but I guess it'll work, I'm too hungry to argue. When do we eat?" Sam looked toward the kitchen. "I can't think any more on an empty stomach and something smells pretty good."

"I'll text Spencer and tell him we've talked and it's OK to come home. All we'll have to do is heat up a few things in the microwave and we can all eat."

"Tell them to hurry up." Sam added. "I'm sure you remember what's it's like to eat for two, right Carls?"

Carly simply rolled her eyes and called for Sasha to give her a hand in the kitchen.

"Freddie. There's some people I'd like you to meet." Carly began as soon as the boy and Spencer returned. "This is Sam. She and Mommy were best friends growing up. We did everything together. And she even works at the same place I do. Just in a different department. She helps people who are really sick or hurt."

"Hi." The boy replied shyly.

"And this is my other best friend from when we were kids. His name is Freddie, too. I sort of named you after him."

"Wow! Your name's Freddie, too. Cool." The kid got all wide eyed.

"Yep. I grew up in the apartment right across the hall. Your mom and I were really good friends. Well, and Sam too of course." He took Sam's hand. "And now we're married."

"Across the hall? That's where Uncle Spencer says Mrs. Clean lives."

Sam stifled a laugh with a slight snicker. "Yeah? I guess Uncle Spencer's pretty smart sometimes after all."

Carly drew in a deep breath. "Do you remember when you went to Jayden's for his birthday party that time and when you came home you asked me about your dad because your friend said you didn't have a dad?"

"Oh, yeah. His mom thought maybe my dad was away in the army or something."

"Well, do you remember what I told you. How your dad lived in America?"

"Uh-huh. Hey, I know, can I maybe meet him now that we live in America?"

"Freddie, this Freddie is your dad." Carly explained. "I'm sorry it took so long for you to get to meet him."

"But aren't dads and moms supposed to be married. Well, except for Trisha at school, she just has two dads for some reason. Oh, and Paulie, his dad doesn't live with his mom anymore because he has a new girlfriend."

"Well, you see. It's kind of like that. Freddie is your dad, because he and Mommy were more than just friends at one time. We weren't married or anything, but we . . . "

"Uh, Carls. The kid's five not fifteen. Does he really need so many details?" Sam mumbled to her friend through clenched teeth.

"Right." Carly continued. "But after Mommy moved to Italy to live with Grandpa, your dad married Sam. So you really have both a mommy and daddy, even though we're not a couple or anything."

"And even if we don't live together, we can be your mom and dad just the same." Freddie added. "And do all kinds of stuff with you just like all the other kids' parents do. And you know, technically you even have another mommy, since Sam's married to me."

"Whoa. I can't wait to tell Trish. She thinks she's so cool because she has two dads, well I have two moms _and_ a dad."

"And don't forget the little half brother or sister on the way." Sam rubbed her belly. "Right after Christmas, he'll be here. Or she."

"A half a brother or sister? Can't I just get a whole brother and no sister?"

"That's not what it means." His father chuckled. "We don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl yet, but I'm sure we'll all love him or her either way."

"It means that the new baby will have the same dad as you but a different mommy." Sam tried to explain. "Understand? And you know what, that means you get to be a big brother, just like Uncle Spencer is to your mom."

"That's kind of cool but I'd still rather have a brother. Girls are gross."

"Some are worse than others." Freddie made motion to Sam, earning him a slap on the back of the head.

"After we eat, maybe we can go across the hall and meet your Grandma." Freddie suggested.

"And lets just forget all about Uncle Spencer's little nickname for her." Carly sent her brother a dirty look.

"What?" Spencer replied. "What did I do?"

* * *

Months later, the holidays drew near and Sam's belly grew bigger. She was due right after the new year but being eight months pregnant didn't stop Sam from pulling out all the stops to make sure she and Freddie as well as his son and even the boy's mother, her best friend, had a memorable holiday. It took a few months, but things eventually got back to normal with the girls' friendship. Carly even threw Sam a surprise Halloween party/baby shower and they spent a lot of time together, especially after Sam's maternity leave started.

Of course, Spencer couldn't help but turn his entire apartment into a winter wonderland for the holidays. He bought the biggest Christmas tree he could find and spent every free moment decorating and making cookies. The whole holiday season was topped off by his proposing to Sasha on New Year's Eve.

Christmas itself was otherwise the typical fare, Sam got some bacon inspired items, Freddie got tech stuff and thanks to Uncle Spencer, Junior ended up getting a huge collection of Galaxy Wars collectibles, much to his step-mother's annoyance. The little boy spent the night with his father and step mother and even his grandmother on a regular basis and began to look forward to the idea of being a big brother. Sam & Freddie were both happy to have him at their place and Freddie took great pride in even attending a Christmas pageant at the boy's school and videoing it.

 **Just a couple more chapters to go. Thanks to all for sticking with this one and following / favoriting it.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

January 5th, 2:30 am, Bensons' apartment, Bushwell Plaza:

Sam woke to the feeling of something stabbing her in the back and a wet bed. Her sudden jump roused Freddie, who come to bed only a few minutes earlier from pulling a late night work session to make sure he could take a few weeks off for the new baby and not get behind with his job.

Freddie recently took a position with a tech company, allowing him more time to spend with his wife and son and soon to be new baby. Staying late, going in extra early in the mornings or working from home on the weekends even gave him time to continue working towards his masters degree and still be able to spend time with Sam.

"Sam? What's the matter, baby?" He asked as she jumped in pain.

"Ah, man. I think I wazzed myself. I knew I shouldn't have drank that whole bottle of leftover eggnog."

"Jeez, Sam. You were just in the bathroom when I got home. That was like, twenty minutes ago. It's impossible for your bladder to be full so fast."

About that time, Sam doubled up in pain. This wasn't a false labor pain like she had been experiencing for over a week, but a full on contraction. "Son of a . . . " She clutched her stomach. "I don't think I peed, I think my water broke and that was a contraction."

"Oh my gosh! Was it your water breaking for sure? Oh, God. Um, let's get your clothes changed and where's your go bag? Do you have the folder with all the paperwork you were supposed to fill out?"

"Hell, I don't know. Just make it stop!" Sam cried in pain. "Freddie! Do something."

He was already standing and getting dressed and began to help Sam change out of her wet nightgown. "Hang on baby and breathe through it. Just like we practiced."

"Shove a sock in it you nub. Get me to the hospital!" Was all she responded. "Oh, God, I think my guts are on fire. Uuuughh!"

Twenty minutes later, the couple was pulling into the emergency drop off area at the hospital where Sam worked. Freddie had called ahead and an orderly was waiting by the door with a wheelchair to take Sam to obstetrics.

"Hi, Sam. I thought you weren't due till Tuesday." The dark haired young girl said to her co-worker. Of course, most of the e.r. staff knew Sam from working there and they all knew her baby was soon due.

"Hey, Georgia, try telling my kid that. Shit, here comes another one." Sam grabbed the armrest of the wheel chair and dug in her nails in pain. "Someone just kill me and get this over with."

"I'm just going to park the car, I'll be right up, baby." Freddie called as Georgia wheeled Sam into the building through the ambulance bay.

"Hurry up, dingus!"

Freddie caught up to Sam and Georgia at the check in desk on the sixth floor, where the maternity ward was located.

"Alright, Sam. I'm here." He puffed, having run the whole way from the parking garage.

"I've paged your doctor and we're going to get you to a room and on a monitor. Just relax and try to breathe through the contraction." The younger nurse told Sam, taking the wheelchair from the orderly.

"You breathe, I just want this to stop!" She winced in pain. "Ngggghh!"

"I'm going to call my mom, I think she's working tonight anyway, maybe she can come up." Freddie had his phone in hand.

"Oh, yeah, that's helping." Sam groaned. "I really don't want your mother in here seeing my girly bits in all their glory. Do something useful and call my sister and Carly will ya?."

"I think Mels was spending the night at Gi . . ., Um, yeah. I'll call them." Sam was in too much pain to realize what her husband almost left slip. He called his sister in law anyway and told her what was happening before calling Carly.

Carly was startled at her phone ringing at such a time. "Freddie? What's wrong?" She answered with a sleepy tone. "Is everything alright?"

"Listen, Carls, um, I'm sorry for the time, but Sam insisted I call you. She's in labor, we just got to the hospital."

"Oh my gosh!" Carly jumped out of bed. "I'll be right there. I just have to tell Spencer so he can Freddie up for school in the morning. I can get dressed and be there in a few minutes."

"Carly. Relax. We just got here and we all know this could take all day. Calm down and take it easy. You go in to work at like, seven thirty anyway. Just leave a little early, there's no use in getting all fussed up."

"Are you kidding? I've actually been through this chiz. I'm not letting Sam do it alone!"

"Uh, I'm here, she's not alone." He reminded.

"Psh! Like a man knows anything about this. Now tell Sam I'll be there in twenty minutes. And for God's sake, don't ever tell a woman to calm down!"

* * *

Seven hours later, the doctor had just been in to examine Sam and declared she was fully dilated and ready to deliver. "All we have to do now is wait for your body to do the rest." He said before leaving to change into his scrubs.

Sam was sweating and tired already and just relaxing from a contraction. "I hope you know we're never having sex again, as much pain as it causes." She sighed to Freddie, knowing all the while this was not true. "I think I know why some women don't even like guys."

"I know I'm not switching teams." Mel said with a grin, as she sent a text to Gibby, telling him she would soon be an aunt.

"When this is over you'd better do a lot of explaining, sister." Sam growled to her twin, having just found out who she had been secretly dating for nearly three months. "Did anyone give Carly an update lately?"

"Just sent her a text. She gets off work in an hour, she'll be up then." Freddie told her.

An hour and a half later, their daughter, Diana Benson was born, surrounded by all sorts of people, including Freddie's mom and Pam Puckett, who for some strange reason had been getting along like long lost friends. Though the two women were as different as night and day, they had very common ground with their new granddaughter.

* * *

Before long, the two families settled into a bit of a routine with not only the new baby, but the now six year old as well. Spencer and Sasha bought a house a short while after they were married and left Carly fully take over the apartment at Bushwell.

Within a few months, her dad was released from the V.A. hospital and she made room for him at her place so she could help take care of him and continue his therapy at home herself. Between Mrs. Benson and Mr. Shay, there was never a need to worry about a sitter for either of the kids. Even Pam volunteered to babysit but quickly recanted after being reminded a newborn needed diaper changes.

 **This chapter got a bit short but I didn't think we needed all the gory details of child birth.**

 **There's only one more update to wrap up this story line. I've got another mature themed one-shot to post after that and a multi-chapter story that's pretty much written, all I need to do is finalize the first few chapters and it'll be ready to start putting up as well once my schedule gets a bit more relaxed.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Epilogue/wrap up**

It took a little over two years, and a false pregnancy, for Sam to convince Freddie that they needed a bigger home. The apartment on the fourth floor just wasn't big enough any more. It had a modest living room that was constantly littered with toys and looked like an obstacle course. Toys overflowed into the kitchen, the nursery and even Sam and Freddie's bedroom by times.

Freddie had a co-worker whose husband was a realtor and they met up with him on a Sunday at his office to begin looking over houses and start their paperwork.

"I think the brick one on Oak Street is nice, but I really like the looks of this one better. It's a little more expensive than we were originally thinking, but it has a fourth bedroom and a fully finished basement." Freddie remarked as they went through the latest listings on the agent's laptop. "And it comes with the appliances."

"Yeah, a finished basement would be nice and I really like the looks of that nice hot tub, but the kitchen is the most important part. That place only has a little, tiny kitchen. I want to be able to have everyone over and make enough food without feeling like we're in a shoe box."

"Hearing that, I think I have just the place for you two." Darren, the realtor told them. "It's in a newer development just south of town off exit seven. The family is only selling because the wife got a new position at her company and they're moving to New Mexico. The house is about 2 years old."

"Hey, Eagle's Bluff. That's where Spencer and Sasha live." Freddie said with a smile, noting the name of the development.

"You mean the Shays, he's an art teacher and she's a, hmm, I don't remember what she does." Freddie nodded at him. "Their house is only three away from this one and on the other side of the street. I sold them their house, oh it was about a year and a half ago I believe."

"Yeah, they moved right before their son was born. I still can't believe Spencer made her move while she was pregnant. I would have kicked him so hard he'd never father kids again." Sam cracked. "Guess she didn't 'cause they're having another one in the fall."

"OK, well the house is vacant so I can actually take you two over to see it right now. I think you'll love it. The husband was a professional chef so it has a beautiful, fully equipped kitchen." Darren changed the subject. "Plus, it looks like it was built just last month. The family kept everything in perfect condition. New carpet and paint throughout, I'm telling you it looks like a new build. Now it's listed for more than what you were hoping to spend, but by the looks of your information, there would be no trouble with getting a loan."

A couple of hours later, the couple was back at the real estate office filling out paperwork. Darren assured them that their qualifications were excellent and within a month or so they'd be moving into their new home.

"Freddie, you'd better text your mom and tell her we're running behind or she's gonna start to panic."

"She passed panic about an hour ago when you were in the bathroom, she said Diana got up from her nap and started fussing for us. The only thing that calmed her down was taking her across the hall to see her big brother."

"Aww. That's sweet. I'll call Carly and check on them as soon as we get done with the last of these forms."

"Well the bad part is now Mom's at Carly's with him and you know how she feels about Carly's housekeeping. I'm sure she'll be disinfecting the bathrooms any time now."

"Just three more signatures, guys." Their agent informed them. "Oh, and I'll need a copy of your i.d., so we can notarize the mortgage application."

"Don't forget, we're stopping for burritos before we go back home." Sam reminded Freddie.

They arrived back at Bushwell an hour later to find the Shays, Diana and Marissa watching a movie and eating popcorn.

"So how was the house hunting?" Carly asked. "You've been gone all afternoon, you two must have been looking at every empty house in Seattle."

"We actually only saw one house in person. It's right up the street from Spencer's and we put in an offer. The agent says we'll hear something tomorrow, but he feels it's a done deal." Freddie said, proudly.

"I can't wait for you to see it, it's only a couple of years old and it has the best kitchen ever, oh and a home theater in the basement that made Freddie almost wet his pants. The agent said he'd get us a key as soon as the sellers sign the forms, you know so we can get in to show it to family and measure for curtains or whatever."

"Well, make sure you have the carpets steam cleaned before you move in. It's hard to tell how many spores and bacteria are living in it." Marissa added. "And do you know if the previous owners had pets. You might need to have to whole house tented for ticks."

"Oh, um, they just had new carpet installed, Mom. I'm telling you, the place is like brand new."

"And it has the world's best kitchen." Sam announced. "You should see it, there's this huge six burner stove with dual ovens and the biggest refrigerator I've ever seen. And a walk in pantry."

* * *

Carly decided that her and Spencer should throw the Bensons a house warming party after they moved and got settled in. She invited most of the people they knew from school who still lived locally and co-workers from the hospital and Sam's office. After a full Sunday afternoon with all their friends and acquaintances, the people were mostly gone and all that remained were Spencer and his family, Carly, little Freddie, Mrs. Benson, Gibby and Melanie.

"Gheesh, you guys, this is such a big place." Gibby commented. "Guess I know where I can crash if I ever need to get away."

"Yeah, that's happening." Sam cracked.

"And who would you need to get away from?" Mel crossed her arms over her chest. The two had been talking about getting a place together for a few months.

"Well, we wanted to have an extra bedroom for Junior so he has his own space when he stays here." Freddie told him. "Plus I can use the other spare room for work stuff and have some quiet if I need to work and study or whatever. I might even be able to get out some of my figurines or my fencing trophies since it'll be in a room where Sam won't have to see them."

"So you want to sleep in there, too huh?" The blonde raised an eyebrow. "I've told you about the Nub-Nub stuff. Put it on Greg's List."

"Sam, it's Nug-Nug." Freddie defended. "And he's a galactic hero."

"Whatever. I still say it's Nub-Nub, you nub-nub."

"Nub!" Diana repeated her mom and giggled.

"Great, just look what you taught her." Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Hey, if the nub fits, wear it." Sam smirked.

"Alright, before you two argue any more, I have something else for Sam to open." Spencer produced a large bag from behind the couch and handed it to her.

"God, Spence. You've already painted both the kids' rooms and you guys got us that whole set of cookware." Freddie told him.

"Well, Sam is like another sister to me. Plus she was the best babysitter we could ever ask for with Jeffrey. And we do have another one on the way."

Sam opened the bag and pulled out a big pig shaped cutting board **(a/n yes this is a real thing, I saw one not long ago and the thing cost almost a hundred bucks!)**

"Dude! It's perfect. Except it's too cool to use." Sam hugged Spencer.

"And that's why I got you two." He pulled another one from behind his back that he had painted with 'Sam's Kitchen - Keep Out!' "One to use and one to hang on the wall."

"You're the best, Spence!" Sam hugged him.

* * *

Within a few months, Sam and Freddie and their baby daughter were all settled into their new home. Freddie and Carly worked out a schedule where Junior spent every other weekend with his dad and step mom and one weekend a month with his grandmother. Marissa also took advantage of every opportunity to have Carly and the little guy over for dinner or visits on a regular basis.

The girls had long worked out their differences and were once again the best of friends. Sam even helped set Carly up with one of the E.R. doctors and eventually served as maid of honor at her wedding. Carly went on to have another son after less than two years of marriage.

Melanie and Gibby got married and had twin girls of their own, who were born about a year before Carly's younger son. Just like Carly and her husband, Melanie and Gibby bought a home in the same development as Sam and Freddie and Spencer.

 **Alright, so now we know how all the characters ended up. Thanks again to everyone who favorited, followed and commented on the story.**

 **I have a mature themed one-shot to post before long and there's already a multi-chapter story in the works but it may be a little while before I get it to the point where I'm satisfied enough with it to start to post it. But be on the lookout.**


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